It is being speculated that the main reason why NAB is closing in on AXA Asia Pacific is because the "Australian superannuation and savings industry" might be going in for some very significant fundamental changes.

The amount of fees charged will be going down on the back of new regulations, and the industry will make the most of the high income products which are currently at the top of the market and popular mass products for the remaining bulk of the sector.

It has been reported that AMP is looking to tackle the coming era of "superannuation" by trying to divide its business into "mass marketing and specialized products", with the aim to effectively take on the industry funds, NAB and various other rivals on the way.

AMP Chief Executive Craig Dunn has already clarified that while the AXA takeover is a good move and will help the company manifolds, it is not something that cannot be pushed aside, and AMP can significantly gain all alone as well.

NAB, which recently acquired both Aviva Group and JBWere, is giving head-on competition to AMP for the AXA acquisition as well. Which giant will walk away with the bid remains to be seen. It is, however, interesting to note that NAB has once beaten AMP (for the Aviva takeover), and might just be able to do it again.