National Australia Bank announces reshuffle and revamp

SYDNEY • National Australia Bank (NAB), the nation's No.1 lender, yesterday announced a top management shake-up and restructuring to reverse declining market share Down Under that will see three senior executives leaving.

NAB has exited struggling operations in Britain and sold a controlling stake in its life insurance arm. Bank chief Andrew Thorburn is under pressure to boost growth at home, where it has underperformed rivals in recent years.

Investors shrugged off the changes, with NAB shares falling 1.12 per cent in a weak Australian market. The country's largest business bank has watched its market share in business lending drop from nearly 25 per cent in 2012 to 22 per cent this March.

REUTERS

HSBC ' to sell $3.7b in loans in asset-reduction strategy'

HONG KONG • HSBC Holdings, Europe's largest bank, is selling US$2.7 billion (S$3.7 billion) in loans as part of a plan to cut risk- weighted assets by US$290 billion over the next three years, according to two people with knowledge of the sale.

The credits include investment-grade loans, project finance, and performing and non-performing leveraged loans, they said on condition of anonymity. The loans are to firms in Europe, Asia and the United States, they said.

Chief executive Stuart Gulliver unveiled a strategy last year to shrink the bank's sprawling operations and reduce annual costs by US$5 billion.

BLOOMBERG