News: NAB UPDATE 3-Australia's NAB in management shake-up to boost growth at home

(Corrects ANZ CEO's name in eighth par)

• Creates 3 main divisions for small business, corporate, retail
• Move aimed to increase focus on Australia, NZ operations
• NAB shares down 0.7 pct in weak Australian market

National Australia Bank (NAB) , the country's No.1 lender, on Friday announced a top management shake-up and restructuring to reverse declining market share in Australia and New Zealand, leading to the departure of three senior executives.

After exiting struggling UK operations and selling a controlling stake in its life insurance business, CEO Andrew Thorburn is under pressure to boost growth at home where NAB has underperformed its three big rivals in recent years.

"To me this is another sign of the ongoing transition of NAB to an Australia and New Zealand-facing business," said Simon Burge, chief investment officer at Above The Index Asset Management.

Three senior executives - Michaela Healey, Gavin Slater and Renee Roberts - will leave the bank as a result of the restructuring. A NAB spokeswoman said there would not be any job cuts as a result of Friday's announcement.

Investors shrugged off the changes, with NAB shares falling 0.69 percent in a weak Australian market, tracking the broader banking index.

Australia's largest business bank has consistently lost market share in business lending from nearly 25 percent in 2012 to 22 percent in March 2016. Market share in home loans also dropped during the period.

More nimble online rivals as well as foreign players such as Chinese and Japanese lenders are rapidly expanding their loan books in Australia, leading to tighter margins and falling revenues for the established majors.

Australian banks' overseas ambitions have backfired. NAB was the first in 2014 to make it a priority to exit the troubled British businesses. This year, No.4 lender Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) started restructuring its Asia business under new CEO Shayne Elliott following years of low returns.

No.2 player Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and No.3 Westpac (WBC) have always stayed focused on the domestic market. Westpac last year split its profitable retail and business banking division in an organisational reshuffle.

"The time was right to refresh the executive leadership team after two years during which the team had worked to address major legacy issues and re-focus the bank on the core Australian and New Zealand business," Thorburn said in a statement.

MORE FOCUS The moves come at a time when the broader operating environment for Australia's "Big Four" banks - NAB, ANZ, Westpac and CBA - have become more onerous as they prepare for a new era of slowing growth after years of record profits.

They are also facing the prospect of further capital raisings, threats to their credit ratings and calls from some politicians for a sweeping public inquiry following a series of scandals over improper financial advice, rate rigging and insurance claims.

Among the changes announced on Friday, the bank will create three main customer-facing divisions - one for small businesses, a second for large corporates and international branches and a third for retail banking and wealth.

The heads of each of these divisions will report directly to Thorburn.

"It looks like they are focusing more on corporate and mid-market lending, moving away from the institutional piece where the (regulatory) capital requirement is going to go higher," said Omkar Joshi, who helps manage A$1 billion at Watermark Funds Management.

NAB shares have lost nearly 11 percent so far this year as investors dump bank shares.