NBNK Investments is considering making a pre-emptive offer for NAB's Clydesdale Bank in the UK,
Dow Jones reported on Friday.
Similar speculation has circulated before. The last such flurry of
media articles on talks with National Australia Bank led to a "temporary" suspension of shares in NBNK on the AIM market in London, in early September 2011. These shares remain suspended more than five months later.
Since then NBNK has presumably continued to engage with NAB management over terms for the acquisition of Clydesdale (or co-ownership, according to some versions of the rumour).
NBNK also attempted, and failed, to buy the "Verde" assets being sold by Lloyds Banking Group, which are being sold to The Co-operative Bank.
Having also missed out on the sale by the British government of Northern Rock (which was sold to Virgin Money), NBNK has few credible take-over targets of niche banking businesses as it endeavours to establish a dedicated retail banking business freed of the constraints of legacy systems.
The genesis of the most recent speculation may be the announcement by NAB in the first week of February that it had commenced a strategic review of its banking business in the UK.
Clydesdale has been trimming costs and rationing credit over recent months, as NAB seeks to maximise the return from any sale of its UK business.