Media Release - National Australia Bank announces new brand identity for Institutional Markets & Services division

Melbourne, 4 October 2006 - National Australia Bank announced today a new name and the creation of a brand identity for its Institutional Markets & Services division.

Effective immediately, the business is known as nabCapital and adopts a logo and visual identity for its global operations across Australia, Asia, the United Kingdom and the USA. In New Zealand, the division continues to operate under the Bank of New Zealand brand to reflect local strengths. That aside, the strategies and overall approach are consistent across all geographic regions.

Chief Executive Officer of nabCapital, John Hooper, said the change was part of the ongoing transformation of the business.

"For the first time, the business has a distinct brand identity as opposed to merely a divisional name" he said. "It reflects our evolving focus as a capital markets and relationship banking business and it makes a clear statement about what we bring to our clients and our people, and how we're backing them to succeed.

"We're making good progress in expanding our capability and product offering to both borrowers and investors, and in delivering capital and investment solutions to our clients and sustainable growth for the Bank's shareholders. 

"We've sharpened the focus of our regional operations and made changes to the way we organise and run our business to support our moves to originate, warehouse and distribute debt and risk management product - the benefits of which began to come through in our half year results", Mr Hooper said.

Managing Director and Group Chief Executive of National Australia Bank, John Stewart, said the move to nabCapital was an important part of building a portfolio of strong brands across the Group.

"There's a growing confidence and maturity about nabCapital and the contribution it is making to the Bank's turnaround program", Mr Stewart said.

Note to editors:
nabCapital is a division of National Australia Bank Limited. It has operations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Core lines of business include Global Markets, Corporate Finance, Institutional Banking, and Structuring & Investments.

Click here  to download a high resolution copy of the nabCapital logo.

For further information:

Jim Stiliadis
Head of Corporate Affairs, nabCapital
T  61 3 8641 3958
M  61 414 534 703  

Will Hetherton
Corporate Affairs Adviser, nabCapital
T  61 3 8641 2344
M  61 417 353 291