Yorkshire Bank prepares to stand alone as date is set for IPO

THE National Australia Bank has set a date for the demerger and initial public offering of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, which will happen in early February 2016.

NAB intend that 75% of the Clydesdale Yorkshire Banking Group shares will go to existing NAB shareholders, and the rest divested to institutional investors via an IPO.

They will be listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

For the UK banking arms of NAB, customer lending increased by £1.1bn, 4.0% on last year, to £28.7bn as of 30 September 2015.

Restructuring costs pushed operating expenses up 6.6% to £45m.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks put aside £1.7bn in anticipation of legacy costs that the PRA required to be put in place in order for the demerger and IPO to go ahead. These relate to the misselling of PPI and interest rate hedging products and fixed rate tailored business loans.

David Duffy, chief executive of Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks said: “These are positive results that demonstrate the work we are doing to build a better bank for customers and to position ourselves for an independent and successful future.

“Going forward we are investing in our digital capability to offer customers greater convenience and an improved customer experience.

“By keeping our focus on how and what we deliver for customers we have created a strong platform on which to build an exciting future for us as an independent bank. In doing that, I believe we have the ability to offer our customers an attractive alternative to the status quo of banking in the UK.”

NAB Group chief executive Andrew Thorburn said: “We are…pleased to confirm the demerger and IPO of CYBG plc which is expected to complete in early February 2016. This follows the completion of the Great Western Bank sell-down, the finalisation of the life reinsurance transaction and the sale of most of our UK COmmercial Real Estate portfolio.”