MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) May 9, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB; AA-/Stable/A-1+) were unchanged following the announcement by NAB today concerning its 2013 half-year results. Our outlook on NAB remains stable. Profitability and other key measures of performance were broadly in line with our expectations at the current rating level. NAB's cash earnings of A$2.92 billion were up 3.1% compared with the first half of 2012. While NAB's U.K. Banking result was weak compared with its other major business divisions, performance improved compared with 2012 mainly because of lower bad debts. The bank's common equity Tier 1 increased to 8.22% (based on Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's definition) from 7.90%
