NAB boss John Stewart believes that banking portfolios will "re-weight" to business banking in the coming year. Consumers will take a more cautious approach to borrowing as they feel the impact of higher interest rates but businesses will continue to invest for growth, hoping to take advantage of strong economic conditions. Stewart said NAB was well set up to profit from this shift. NAB's business banking relationship model was "strong" and the bank had the "leading SME franchise".NAB has expanded its specialised business unit approach, adding government industries and food, fibre and beverage to its list of specialisations.The business and private banking division has adopted the iFS (integrated financial solutions) management system developed in the United Kingdom. Bankers are given more autonomy and remuneration incentives to "increase their tenure of relationship" with customers.The head of business and private banking, George Frazis, said: "The model came from Australia originally and was refined in the UK. About 85 per cent of it is the same but there are elements we are going to apply here. "The big change will be a clearer link between the performance of the banker and their reward. It gives us better tools for monitoring what they achieve."Frazis said his group was using the branch network to improve its sales capability. Thirty six per cent of branches now have staff trained to work with SME customers.Frazis described the condition of the bank's business customer base as robust.  "With a strong economy and high levels of capacity utilisation there is plenty of demand for funds for investment. "There is a heightened awareness of risk. Business is worried about how consumers will react to higher rates. There are more inquiries about hedging against volatility, especially among exporters and agricultural producers."But for the most part the critical thing for our customers is speed of decision on financing. The extra 25 basis points of interest cost is not slowing them down. Overall, it is business as usual."