RNS Number:8478S
National Australia Bank Ld
04 December 2003


                                       Group Corporate Affairs

                                       National Australia
                                       Bank Limited
                                       ABN 12004044937
                                       500 Bourke Street

Media Release                          Melbourne
                                       Victoria  3000
                                       Australia






Melbourne, 4 December 2003

National Australia Bank sells UK life subsidiary



London: National Australia Bank Limited has today announced the sale of its UK
life insurance subsidiary, National Australia Life Company Limited (NAL), to
Century Life plc (Century).

The sale follows the announcement earlier this year of the National's strategic
alliance with Legal & General, which now provides life insurance products and
administrative services to customers of the National's three UK banks, the
Clydesdale, Yorkshire and Northern Banks.

National's European Chief Executive John Stewart said the introduction of the
Legal & General life insurance products and the sale of
NAL were two key steps in the National's organic growth strategy.

"The sale of NAL means the National will be able to bring greater focus to our
core capabilities of customer relationship management
and distribution, and drive real value from our strategic alliance with Legal &
General.  Our UK customer base is a significant market for
life insurance and we are already seeing great results from the Legal & General
offering."

Head of the National's European life insurance operations, Annette Petchey,
said: "Legal & General are one of the UK's strongest life
insurance brands and our agreement with them enables us to offer our customers a
flexible and competitive suite of products backed up by superb customer service.

"For existing NAL customers, there will be no change to the terms and conditions
of their policies, and Century Life are committed to maintaining the same high 
levels of customer service."

As a result of the sale, Century will be responsible for the administration of
all existing NAL policies and intend to merge the business
of NAL into Century during the course of next year.  The National will work with
Century to assist them with the transition of ownership of NAL.

The sale is expected to be completed on 31 December 2003.  The sale price is not
disclosed, but represents a premium to the embedded value of the business.

The National was advised by Lazard & Co., Limited ("Lazard") regarding both the
sale of NAL and the strategic alliance with Legal & General.
Lazard is acting for National Australia Bank Limited in connection with the sale
and the strategic alliance and no-one else, and will not be
responsible to anyone other than National Australia Bank Limited for providing
the protections offered to clients of Lazard, nor for
providing advice in relation to the sale and the strategic alliance.


About the National

The National Australia Bank Limited group is an international financial services
group operating across four continents and 15 countries
including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and
Asia.  As at 30 September 2003, the National had total assets
of #168 billion (AUD 397 billion), assets under management and administration of
over #31 billion (AUD 73 billion), assets under custody
and investment administration of #131 billion (AUD 311 billion), almost eight
million banking and more than 2.8 million wealth management
customers globally.

Members of the group in Europe include Clydesdale Bank PLC in Glasgow, Yorkshire
Bank PLC in Leeds, Northern Bank Limited in Belfast
and National Irish Bank Limited in Dublin.  The National's UK operations also
include its Wealth Management Europe division, which
provides financial planning, investments and insurance services to customers of
its UK banks, as well as portfolio implementation systems
and business consulting to the UK's independent financial advisers.



About Century Life

Century Group Ltd, of which Century Life plc is a subsidiary, was formed in 1984
to acquire life assurance companies and blocks of life assurance
business in the UK. Century Group Ltd has made a number of acquisitions
including Sentinel Life, National Employers Life and Old Mutual Life
Assurance UK as well as the UK business of Mutual Life and Citizens. Currently
it holds some #2 billion of assets and maintains 250,000 policies.


Further information:

Samantha Evans
Wealth Management, National Australia Bank
0418 143 103


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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