UPDATE: National Australia Bank Assessing Options On RBS Branches- CEO

National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) Chief Executive Cameron Clyne said Wednesday that the bank is assessing its options in relation to the sale of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) branches in the U.K. but wouldn't confirm whether it has lodged an offer for the assets.

"I don't think we know much about (the RBS branches) at this stage," he told reporters after a business lunch in Melbourne. "We know there are 318 branches but haven't seen much beyond public disclosure so we will continue to assess our options."

The first round of bids for the branches closed in the U.K. Tuesday. People familiar with the situation have said that National Australia Bank, along with other parties including Virgin Money and Banco Santander SA (STD), were likely to bid for the branches. The price tag for the assets has been valued at between GPB1 billion and GPB2 billion.

Clyne earlier told the business lunch that Melbourne-based NAB--currently Australia's fourth largest bank by market capitalization--is looking at opportunities to participate in the consolidation of the U.K. banking sector. Analysts expect the group, which owns the Clydesdale and Northern banks in the U.K., could also look at buying assets from Northern Rock but the group has not ruled out selling its operations in the U.K. to focus on its home market.

Since taking up the top role at NAB around 15 months ago, Clyne has taken advantage of depressed financial markets to make several high profile acquisitions, including a deal to buy some operations from Aviva in Australia and private wealth group JBWere.

But his biggest deal is NAB's planned A$13.29 billion acquisition of AXA Asia Pacific Holding Ltd.'s (AXA.AU) operations, which if approved by regulators will propel NAB into a market-leading position in the life-insurance and wealth-management industries, with the largest network of financial advisers in Australia.

Clyne said that he is "confident" the group will get approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for the deal. The ACCC will rule on NAB's offer and another approach for AXA Asia Pacific by AMP Ltd. (AMP.AU) by April 22.

Under the planned deal, NAB has agreed to sell AXA Asia Pacific's Asian assets to France's AXA SA (AXA). The independent directors of AXA APH have agreed to recommend NAB's proposal, which offers minority shareholders either A$6.43 a share in cash or a combination of 0.1745 NAB share and A$1.59 cash.

-By Lyndal McFarland, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2093; [e-mail]