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NAB gives pledge on UK banks – for now
Bill Condie5 Jan 2009
Australian lender National Australia Bank has given a qualified commitment to its UK operations, saying it will keep the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks in the group “for the time being”.
Reports in London at the weekend said that both British banks could be put up for sale. “The NAB group banks have performed extremely well relative to their peers,” the bank said today.
“For the time being, those banks are very much a part of the group's operations.” This year saw Cameron Clyne take over from former Barclays banker John Stewart at the helm of NAB.
His first order of business has been to launch a wide-ranging review of operations.
A NAB spokeswoman today said that Clyne had told shareholders at the annual meeting last month that “NAB still had a focus on its offshore operations, including Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks”.
But there have also been rumbling from some shareholders who say the British operations have delivered lower returns than NAB's domestic Australian business.
