Briefs: NAB to raise up to US$495 million Great Western sale, Dunn joins Westpac board, RBNZ complet 04 May 2015 3:44PM Banking Day staff Briefs, NAB expects to raise as much as US$495 million by selling down most of its controlling stake in regional US lender Great Western Bancorp. NAB is offering 20 million shares in Great Western at US$21.50 each. The underwriters of the offer will have a 30-day option to buy an additional 3 million shares. The offer accounts for 39.7 per cent of Great Western's shares and, if sold, would reduce NAB's stake to 28.5 per cent. Former Financial System Inquiry panel member Craig Dunn will join Westpac's board as an independent director. Dunn served as AMP chief executive from 2008 to 2013. He is also the chairman of Stone & Chalk, Sydney's new fintech hub. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced it has completed the licensing of the non-bank deposit taking sector, having issued licences to 31 entities. The RBNZ was granted the power to regulate all financial entities in 2005 and was specifically given powers to license non-banks and approve directors under the Non Bank Deposit Takers Act of 2013. Standard & Poor's has lowered its long-term credit rating for Rabobank New Zealand to A from A+ after the expiration of the unconditional guarantee from its parent Rabobank Nederland on May 1. S&P said Rabobank NZ's stand-alone credit rating was BBB+, but the long term rating reflected the agency's view that the parent would likely provide timely financial support if needed, given it remained a strategic subsidiary and was unlikely to be sold, "particularly given the subsidiary's success over a sustained period as one of New Zealand's largest providers of food and agriculture lending." However, the long-term rating reflected S&P's view that "under rare circumstances the support from the parent may not be absolute or timely."