National Australia Bank shareholders could pay a heavy price for the rehabilitation of the group's battle-scarred wealth management subsidiary, MLC Wealth.MLC yesterday slashed administration fees across its range of wrap and Masterkey Super products.The deep repricings will result in administration fees being halved to 0.15 per cent per annum for retail wrap clients with balances between A$200,000 and $500,000. Administration fees for wrap clients with balances above $500,000 will be cut 40 per cent to 0.03 per cent per annum.MLC is also lowering fees for Masterkey Super clients by up to 25 per cent.NAB is under pressure to stabilize its wealth management arm ahead of a planned sale of the business within the next 12 months.With regulatory risks weighing on the wealth management sector, the bank is understood to be preparing to float the business towards the end of 2019.NAB is attempting to offload the subsidiary at a time when its public standing has hit rock bottom.Evidence presented last year to the Hayne Royal Commission showed that MLC habitually levied advice fees on thousands of clients' accounts when no advice services were actually provided. It was also revealed during the hearings that MLC levied fees on the accounts of dead people.NAB faces big challenges offloading the operation through an IPO given that the scandals highlighted by the royal commission have stoked massive outflows from MLC and other bank-owned wealth businesses.Research published by Rice-Warner last year shows that bank-owned subsidiaries accounted for more than 40 per cent of the superannuation market at the turn of the millennium but now hold only around 26 per cent.The trend away from retail funds is expected to continue in the next decade as union-backed industry funds muster the lion's share of new flows.While MLC's decision to slash fees might help slow the bleeding, it will also further crimp an important revenue stream as the bank tries to flog the business to investors.Inevitably, that will have negative implications for valuations that market analysts place on the business.NAB paid more than A$4 billion to acquire MLC from Lend Lease in 2000, but is likely to fetch no more than $3 billion through an IPO given its loss of market share and the regulatory risks overhanging the company.Despite such ominous trends, MLC boss Geoff Lloyd yesterday trumpeted the fee reductions as a big step towards rehabilitating the business in the Australian market."We want to lead the industry in winning back trust, and these pricing changes are an important step in showing our clients and their advisers that we have listened to them, and we are changing," Lloyd said."Today's announcement is one of the biggest fee reductions ever undertaken by MLC."