National Australia Bank Ltd
(ASX:NAB) has held talks with a Spanish bank about creating a joint venture in Britain.
NAB and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are believed to be among the frontrunners to buy a $2.46 billion network of 300 branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland.
A British newspaper has reported that the joint venture could be also be used as a platform to buy other British banks due to come up for sale over the next few months.
If an agreement is reached between the two banks, they will compete with Spanish rival bank Santander, which has been considered the favourite to secure the deal as it already owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley.
National Australia Bank owns the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks in the UK.
Royal Bank of Scotland is being forced to sell the banks by the European Commission as a penalty for accepting billions of pounds in state aid at the height of the global financial crisis.
For the 12 months to September 30, 2009, National Australia Bank posted a profit of $2.589 billion.
