Funding costs may rise in 2009

National Australia Bank is taking a pessimistic view of the cost of funding banks next year.

Michael Chaney, chair of NAB's board, told the bank's annual meeting in Melbourne yesterday that he was "concerned that costs for wholesale funding may continue to trend upwards throughout 2009."

This was about the only direct remark on any aspect of the outlook for next year, beyond the generic reminders about how difficult the operating is and how responsible the bank's responses are.

Cameron Clyne, the new chief executive, did reiterate the "clear objective of improving total shareholder return", a rotten choice of a performance metric for any manager of a listed company. Clyne and his colleagues may have some influence on, say, dividends, but really none at all on the market price of NAB's securities.