Edgy bank staff seek union help

By PAULA OLIVER

Nervous National Bank staff are signing up to the bank workers' union in droves as they wait for London-based Lloyds TSB to decide the fate of their employer.

Lloyds is looking to sell its profitable New Zealand arm and local staff are concerned about job losses if the buyer is one of the big four Australian banks.

Bank workers' union Finsec yesterday said its 1800-strong National Bank membership grew by 5 per cent on the day Lloyds confirmed a sale was on the cards.

"The confirmation was helpful but it continues the uncertainty for staff," Finsec general secretary Andrew Cassidy said. "They feel unsafe."

Lloyds said it could take months to decide whether it would sell. The National Bank employs 4777 people.

Chairman Sir Wilson Whineray said yesterday that staff should not be too concerned because they were seen as top class, and employees like that were in short supply.

ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (owner of ASB), have been tipped as the banks with the most to gain from buying the National Bank.

Smaller than both Westpac and the National Australia Bank (owner of BNZ), who are also being touted as potential buyers, the two would be unlikely to seriously trouble competition watchdogs.

But for any of the Australian banks, buying the National Bank would be a huge undertaking. HSBC is seen as a possible buyer who would have far less trouble completing the acquisition.

British analysts are tipping that Lloyds will decide in favour of a sale because the National Bank is a non-core asset.

New Lloyds chief executive Eric Daniels has said that he was focused on making gains in UK retail banking after a drop in profit, and there was already evidence that the sale of global assets was part of that strategy.

Lloyds sold a French fund management business last month because it did not fit the bank's strategy.

It has been said that Lloyds could use the capital from a sale of the National Bank to cover its high dividend policy.

But there is acknowledgement among British and Australian analysts that Lloyds does not need to sell the National Bank.

Because of that, it could realistically decide to keep the low-risk, profitable asset if it does not get offered the right price.

The prospect of having all of New Zealand's big banks owned by Australians has raised the eyebrows of some observers.

Wellington's Mayor Kerry Prendergast is among a group questioning whether New Zealand's banking system could become too reliant on Australia.

Massey University senior banking lecturer David Tripe yesterday said that if all of the major banks were Australian-owned it could bring the possibility of a single currency closer.

Asked whether there might be a backlash to an Australian purchase, he said that people often talked of leaving a bank but rarely followed through. "Talk is cheap when it comes to changing banks. It's not easy or quick to do."

Tripe said he had heard talk that an ANZ purchase would be particularly unpopular because of that bank's poor record in customer service surveys.