The context in which National Australia Bank must seek a buyer for its poorly performed Clydesdale Bank subsidiary in the UK has shifted in recent days, with the Labour Opposition proposing market share caps intended to restrain the country's large banks.
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said last week that a Labour government would instruct the Competition and Markets Authority to report within six months of the May 2015 General Election what the limit on a bank's market share should be and the timetable for the sell-off of branches, which banks will have to complete by 2020.
Several UK banking franchises are on the market and have been, like Clydesdale, for years.
BBC News summarised the history, including the efforts by Lloyds Banking Group to dispose of more than 630 branches, which foundered last year after the Co-op pulled out of a deal because of financial problems. US private equity firms have since bailed out the Co-op.
Lloyds has since re-launched the TSB retail bank, with about 600 branches.
And the Royal Bank of Scotland has set out plans to revive Williams and Glyn's - which ceased trading in 1985 - to take over RBS' branches in England and Wales, and the NatWest outlets in Scotland.
NAB must thus try once more to find a new owner for Clydesdale in what is a buyer's market.