Don't you love these banks when the goings tough?, page-7

Fitzman

WBC have stopped their share buy back due to changes they are making to their incorporation which dates back to 1800 something. I do not beleive this is anything major except the share buy back can not be conducted until this is competed sometime in mid Sept - was announced last week

NAB have not been active in buying back shares since the 18 Aug - May have been due to the Homeside sale which means they should start buying again or may be something else. Will be watching the announcements in the morning closely.

Agree though if they do start buying again there will be easier shorts.

SYDNEY, Aug 27 AAP - National Australia Bank Ltd has placed its
share buyback on ice again, fuelling speculation that it may have
re-entered merger talks with a United Kingdom financial
institution, The Australian Financial Review reports.
The bank has now spent six days out of the market as a buyer of
its shares and this has triggered a string of broker reports
suggesting that the holy grail of a UK purchase may be on the radar
screen again, it said.
NAB shares traded strongly on the ASX yesterday, climbing 41 cents to $34.91.
The recent strength of the share price in the absence of the
buyback activity has raised the hopes of some investors that the
bank may be negotiating a sale of the overhanging assets from its
former HomeSide subsidiary in the United States, the newspaper said.
The AFR said NAB has been eyeing several British mortgage banks
in the past three years, including Alliance & Leicester and Abbey
National, but is yet to clinch an acquisition to complement its
existing operations there, it said.
UBS Warburg's chief banking analyst, Jeff Emmanuel, told clients
yesterday that the stalling of the buyback might be a pointer to
the re-opening of merger talks in the UK or the sale of the
HomeSide assets, the newspaper said. AAP