LONDON: Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks are set for a £2 billion flotation because their owner the National Australia Bank is preparing to exit the UK.
Yorkshire and Clydesdale have 2.7 million customers and 330 branches. They have been forced to write off billions of pounds of bad debts and compensate customers mis-sold payment protection insurance and complex interest rate derivatives.
NAB’s 2014 full-year cash earnings fell almost 10% to $5.18 billion, largely due to provisions for the mis-selling of useless or toxic products to households and small businesses in the UK. It has set aside more than £1.23 billion to date.
The Australian lender has also taken a big hit on PPI and swaps mis-selling, forcing it to put aside more than £1.2bn in compensation.
National Australia Bank (NAB) has reportedly appointed Morgan Stanley to lead the listing, weeks after chief executive Andrew Thorburn confirmed plans to withdraw from the sector.
In October, Mr Thorburn said NAB was examining “a broader range of options including those provided by public markets” in relation to offloading the banks.
The group has axed 1,400 jobs as part of restructuring and quarantined £5.6 billion worth of troubled commercial real estate loans.
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