Many wealth management Companies are keen on buying parts of the AXA-Asia Pacific business, in the wake of National Australia Bank submitting a revised merger plan to ANZ.

Mainly three Companies, ANZ, Perpetual and IOOF are undergoing discussions with National Australia Bank regarding the acquisition of AXA-AP's North investment platform. After the sale agreements are dealt with, NAB is expected to lodge a fresh proposal with the regulator. This proposal will include undertakings to sell the North arm and possibly other parts of AXA-AP.

The Australian yesterday disclosed that in 2008 there were merger talks by NAB and ANZ. However, the news of the deal did not go down well with the Government. It was reported that NAB executives had informed a number of senior Labor ministers about the possible transaction.

Nevertheless, other people were not very optimistic about the possible transaction. The discussions with Canberra started at an unlikely time and were fast. The NBA team was not expecting such a fast reaction.

NAB gave an important message to Canberra, which was that the bank was not seeking instant approval or recommendation. Rather, as one banker has put it, "We wanted the door not to be slammed in our face".

On May 12, Westpac's then new Chief Executive Gail Kelly revealed a $17 billion takeover of rival St George. This was the first noteworthy bank takeover that Australia had witnessed in years.