NAB plays down Yorkshire Bank sale rumours

NATIONAL Australia Bank yesterday said it is "comfortable" with its position in the UK, dampening speculation it could be about to sell the Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks.

A report at the weekend said Spanish bank BBVA has been in talks with NAB about buying the two banks in a deal worth 2bn.

The report came after NAB withdrew from the race to buy 318 branches put up for sale by Royal Bank of Scotland.

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Santander and rival BBVA are now competing for the RBS branches.

An NAB spokesman in Melbourne said yesterday: "In relation to UK, we are comfortable with status quo and we are under no pressure to participate in the consolidation there."

An NAB spokesman in the UK declined to comment further.

Speculation suggests that a BBVA takeover of Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks would be considered as uncontentious because BBVA has no back office operations in the UK.

Reports have said NAB is pursuing a "double or quits" strategy in the UK – growing through acquisition or selling up – but yesterday's statement appears to contradict that. If there was a formal offer to buy NAB's UK operations it would likely trigger an announcement on the Australian Securities Exchange.