Blackfriar: Parental advice needed to end Yorkshire speculation

While Yorkshire and Clydesdale's UK chiefs Lynne Peacock and David Thorburn have stressed their commitment to the UK time and time again, mixed messages from NAB's Australian group chief executive Cameron Clyne have led to confusion.

At the height of the speculation in March 2009, Mr Clyne appeared to come clean, insisting that the UK banks were not up for sale.

"It is absolutely not in the interest of shareholders to exit our UK position," he said. "We are committed to supporting this business and preserving our future options through the UK recovery. The UK business is a scarce and valuable mid-sized player."

Yet a year on we see reports that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been advising NAB on options for its British business.

The rumours rumble on with two more claims that the banks will be put up for sale in the last two months alone.

So, is NAB going to sell its UK business or bolster it with acquisitions?

There has been speculation that NAB received bids for Yorkshire and Clydesdale from two Spanish banks, Santander and BBVA, but neither came to anything.

Santander certainly has enough on its plate following the recent purchase of the 318 branches that RBS was forced to sell to meet European Union rules.

In addition the Spanish bank is still bedding down Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley's deposit business.

So what about acquisitions?

Earlier this week NAB said it is happy with the status quo in the UK and any UK acquisitions would have to meet its financial criteria.

NAB is understood to have bid for the 318 RBS branches bought by Santander, but walked away from the deal.

NAB is now being suggested as a buyer for the 350 branches being hived off by Lloyds to meet EU regulations and there have also been rumblings that it could bid for Northern Rock's "good" bank when it is privatised.

Analysts believe Clyne is keeping an open mind.

A banking source said: "Clyne is clearly keeping all options open as far as his UK arm is concerned.

"The plan looks to be a mixture of organic growth – with the hope that disaffected customers will leave partly state owned banks – and inorganic growth, if it is possible at a decent price."

However neither acquisition looks imminent. Lloyds' chief executive Eric Daniels said a sell-off of the 350 branches is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Meanwhile recent losses at Northern Rock's "good" bank imply a sale is also unlikely to take place any time soon.

Yorkshire Bank has emerged from the banking crisis with its head held high.

While Bradford & Bingley collapsed, leaving shareholders with nothing, and Halifax found itself saddled with Bank of Scotland losses, Yorkshire Bank came out relatively unscathed.

Its insistence on sticking to traditional banking and refusal to get drawn into investment banking, buy-to-let, sub-prime or 125 per cent mortgages has stood it in good stead.

Earlier this week it said the bank continues to perform well despite the difficult market conditions.

In typical Yorkshire Bank style, it said that while the UK economy is showing signs of recovery "a cautious outlook remains appropriate".

"We continue to follow a very steady and prudent course," said Lynne Peacock.

This is all well and good, but Yorkshire and Clydesdale need a clear indication from their Australian management that they are valued and permanent members of the NAB team.