NAB sells £1.2 billion of high risk mortgages

An estimated £127 million of capital will be released for the NAB Group when the transaction is settled.

Following the sale, the balance of the portfolio will be reduced to £836 million, compared to the original balance of £5.6 billion in October 2012 when the run-off portfolio was first established.

The loans being sold are mainly defaulted, watch and high loan-to-value loans, with the sale reducing the higher risk loans in the portfolio by 93 per cent, according to an ASX statement released yesterday.

NAB Group chief executive Andrew Thorburn said NAB had accelerated the run-off of the UK portfolio, with a great majority of the remaining non-performing loans being sold.

“This is an important step forward, effectively bringing closure to one of our legacy positions,” Mr Thorburn said.

“The sale of these higher risk loans in the NAB UK CRE portfolio is another important milestone in our strategy of reducing our low returning legacy assets and sharpening our focus on our core Australian and New Zealand franchises,” he said.

“Pleasingly, the remaining NAB UK CRE loans are largely strong performing loans, and we will look at other options to manage this small remaining portfolio.”