National Australia Bank (NAB) is reportedly among the potential buyers conducting due diligence on HSBC Australia's deposit portfolio, according to a report from MT Newswires on Friday. The news comes as NAB shares slipped 1.4% in afternoon trading, though the decline appears to be part of a broader pullback in the banking sector rather than a direct reaction to the report.
At 1:56 p.m. AEST, NAB shares were trading at A$38.685, down A$0.535 from Thursday's close of A$39.22. The stock moved between A$38.57 and A$39.26, with approximately 1.09 million shares changing hands in the one-minute data snapshot. That volume is incomplete compared with Thursday's full-session turnover of 8.02 million shares.
Notably, other major Australian banks also experienced declines at similar timestamps: Commonwealth Bank fell 1.37%, Westpac dropped 1.21%, and ANZ slipped 0.45%. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.42%, indicating that the banking sector's weakness was not market-wide. No official transaction statement from NAB appeared on the ASX announcements list through early afternoon.
HSBC has already separated the asset side of its Australian retail exit. On July 31, the bank agreed to sell A$36 billion of home and personal loans to Blackstone, with Pepper Money set to service the portfolio after completion. That transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. HSBC has stated that its remaining Australian retail operations will be wound down over an 18-month period.
A deposit transfer would give a buyer liabilities and customer relationships rather than the loan assets being sold to Blackstone. The economics of such a deal depend on several factors: the mix of transaction, savings, term-deposit, and foreign-currency accounts; the interest rates paid to customers; the assets or cash transferred against the liabilities; and the retention rate of customers during the migration process. Friday's report did not disclose any of these variables.
HSBC's 2026 interim report lists US$34.835 billion of customer accounts in Australia as of June 30, up from US$34.171 billion at the end of 2025. However, this country-level figure is not a valuation of the retail deposit portfolio under review. It may include accounts outside the retail perimeter that HSBC plans to retain, so it serves only as a boundary for the Australian balance-sheet context.
For NAB, the strategic appeal of acquiring a deposit book is clear. The bank reported A$673.5 billion in customer deposits as of March 31, a 2.3% increase from the previous half. Its net interest margin stood at 1.81%, up three basis points, with deposits contributing three basis points to the margin bridge. This illustrates why a stable pool of customer funding can be valuable, even without the associated mortgages.
However, the value is not simply the deposit balance multiplied by NAB's margin. The bank's investor presentation showed a A$78 billion deposit replicating portfolio invested to five years at an average rate of 3.41%. That hedge book converts part of the deposit base into earnings over time. A newly acquired account base would carry its own rate sensitivity, duration, and migration costs. Paying too much for deposits that reprice quickly or leave after transfer could erase the funding benefit.
Attrition is a significant counterargument to a deal. HSBC has been informing Australian retail customers since July that products outside the loan sale will close in phases, with current notices covering credit cards, investment services, and bank accounts. Each week between the initial notice and a signed transfer gives customers another opportunity to move their money independently.
Due diligence does not guarantee a bid, and competing buyers could drive up the price, reducing the return for NAB. The next decision-useful disclosure would include a signed agreement, the deposit balance and account types included, consideration, expected customer retention, migration costs, capital effects, and the regulatory timetable. Until then, the report describes an option for NAB, not an earnings event. The broad bank-share decline and the absence of transaction terms leave no basis for attributing the 1.4% stock move solely to HSBC.
