NAB ready to turf out its dud performers

Ian Rogers
National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Thorburn finally articulated a theme, if not an actual strategy, for an "exit" from its clutch of legacy assets, of which Clydesdale Bank is the thorniest.
 
UK banking, plus Great Western Bank and the leftovers of the collateralised debt obligation mess from 2008 consume 18 per cent of group capital, NAB's chief executive conceded.
 
They earn returns "well below their cost of capital," Thorburn said
 
"We cannot improve [group] returns without addressing this," he said.
 
In the UK, he said, "we can signal today our decision to exit."
 
The bank has "public market options," he said, meaning an IPO.

"We will work out the best way to exit ... discuss it methodically, with a good dose of urgency thrown in."