The acquisition «would not substantially lessen competition,» the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Thursday.
The competition watchdog in Australia will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Citigroup Australia’s consumer business by National Australia Bank.
Its review focused on competition in the supply of credit cards, as Citi is a substantial provider of credit cards and credit card services. ACCC also focused on was the provision of «white label» credit card services, as following the acquisition, NAB will be the dominant white label credit card supplier to a number of commercial partners, and will compete with those partners in the consumer-facing credit card market.
Evidence showed that the proposed acquisition was unlikely to raise competition concerns in any other areas of overlap, given Citi’s minimal market share in these markets, ACCC said in a statement.
NAB, Australia’s second-biggest bank, said in August it would buy Citigroup Australia in a deal valued at around A$1.2 billion ($880 million).
The U.S. bank is preparing to exit the region in the face of strong challenges to the old credit card business model from buy-now, pay-later companies.