MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 17, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that its 'AA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term ratings on National Australia Bank (NAB) and NAB's core subsidiaries are unchanged following NAB's proposed acquisition of AXA Group's wealth-management and life-insurance businesses in Australia and New Zealand for A$4.61 billion. In our view, the proposed acquisition is not a risky and unrelated business for NAB, and has only a modest impact on the bank's capital position. If the acquisition proceeds, we believe NAB will benefit from a market-leading presence in the wealth-management and life-insurance sectors in Australia and New Zealand. In our opinion, the acquisition will also offer NAB greater business and earnings diversity. Standard&Poor's ratings on
