National Australia Bank may divest Clydesdale Bank

The Australian lender wants to concentrate on its core businesses at home while selling the “deadweight” British lender.

National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney has given a strong hint that it is preparing to sell “deadweight” Clydesdale Bank.

There has long been speculation that NAB would like to offload the business but this is the clearest signal yet that the bank is preparing to refocus its efforts on high- growth markets such as Asia.
Mr Chaney said NAB’s British business had been one of the “deadweights” in the bank, according to the Herald Sun newspaper in Australia.

NAB wants to focus on its core businesses at home “while endeavouring to make whatever portfolio moves seem sensible elsewhere in the world”.

“That might include the sale of the British banks ... depending on opportunities,” Mr Chaney said at its annual shareholder meeting, the Herald Sun reported. He did, however, acknowledge that the “continued operation” of the British bank remained an option.

A spokesman for Clydesdale said: “We were not at the AGM and so can’t comment on a newspaper report on what the chairman may or may not have said in response to a question.

View the full story in Herald Scotland.