NAB’s chief executive John Stewart explained that the sale of the business was a win-win outcome for the National and Danske by achieving an attractive price for the banks and generating a significant profit to strengthen its capital base.
Stewart continued: “It opens an exciting new chapter for the two Irish banks and for Dankse. The sale will allow our leadership team to focus all their attention on our operations in Great Britain.
“We are committed to retaining and growing these businesses and we are making good early progress on some key strategic projects. These include expansion into South East England with our financial solutions centres, the ongoing integration of our banking operations and a revamp of our product range.”
NAB will retain the profits from the two Irish banks until the transaction is completed, which is expected to be during the first quarter of 2005.
Bill Warren, director of the Complete Network, said: “I can’t see it having a massive impact on the broker and it should be business as usual. Danske is not too well known in mortgage terms. We have to see this as a positive opportunity but maybe more so for larger mortgage distribution schemes.”
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at Charcol, said: “We use Northern Bank as they are one of the few offshore fixed rate lenders. So we would hope that when Danske take over the proposition is maintained.”
