Solid first quarter for Yorkshire Bank owner

YORKSHIRE Bank’s owner National Australia Bank (NAB) said today it achieved a “solid” first quarter result which it says reflects a recovery in the UK economy.

National Australia Bank (NAB), which also owns Clydesdale, also hailed the success of its 2012 restructure.

UK banking cash earnings improved in the quarter driven mainly by lower costs and a lower charge for bad and doubtful debts and asset quality was also said to be improving.

However, the group said there was a wide range of uncertain factors relevant to determining the total costs associated with conduct-related matters, including payment protection insurance and interest rate hedging products. Despite UK customer redress costs being “negligible” in the quarter, the bank said it would increase the provision for conduct-related matters in its half-year accounts.

Chief executive, Cameron Clyne, said the group achieved a solid first quarter result and said there was improvement in asset quality and good growth in mortgages.

He said: “We continue to make progress on our refreshed group strategic agenda.

“Our new operating structure has now been implemented and for the first time this quarter we are able to report our results in line with that structure.

“Particularly pleasing was the further improvement in the performance of UK banking and the NAB UK commercial real estate run-off portfolio.

“Both continue to benefit from the restructure we undertook in 2012 and the recovery of the UK economy.”

David Thorburn, chief executive of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, said: “While encouraged by the progress we’ve made, I’m resolutely committed to delivering a renewed, sharper focus on the customer right across Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks. As a result, there has been a step-up in the pace of change to deliver improved support for our customers. Underlining our commitment to dealing with past conduct issues and learning from our mistakes, we created a new, dedicated Customer Trust and Confidence function in January.

“The team will drive a wide-ranging programme of change to embed the culture and processes that will ensure all our products and services deliver fairness for customers now and in the future.”

“Over the course of the year ahead, we’ll also look at further enhancements to our Current Account products to ensure we continue to deliver better value for customers,” he added.