 NAB purchase part of Challenger
National Australia Bank has been given the green light to go ahead with its planned take over of the Challenger mortgage business. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given the go ahead and the acquisition will increase NAB's market share by around 1 per cent.
NAB plans to take over part of the Challenger mortgage lending business. Choice, PLAN and FAST mortgage broker distribution businesses will be bought for $385 million.
The ACCC in confident that this purchase will not affect competition substantially.
"In this instance, the ACCC concluded the ability of brokers to switch to rival distribution platforms, and competition from other lenders, would prevent the proposed acquisition from substantially lessening competition in the national market for the supply of home loans," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel noted in a statement.
National Australia Bank have been planning this buy out for some time and have also recently purchased Aviva's Australian sector and an 80.1 per cent share in JBWere, a private brokerage.
In the previous two year there has been considerable movement in the banking industry, with Westpac acquiring two smaller lenders - RAMS and St George Bank - and the Commonwealth Bank buying Wizard, as well as a 33 per cent stake in Aussie Home Loans.
What happens to bank mortgage rates now that the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted official rates yesterday? None of the major banks have moved to lift variable home loan rates but many economists predict the big banks will raise rates soon.
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