Santander mulls £2bn Clydesdale and Yorkshire bid Britain's fifth largest bank is considering the move after its proposed acquisition of 316 Royal Bank of Scotland branches collapsed in October, the Sunday Times reported. National Australia Bank (NAB), which owns the lenders, has come under pressure from shareholders to offload the struggling banks. Last October, NAB suffered a 22pc slump in full-year profits due to millions of dollars in costs from its British operations. Sources told the newspaper that Santander was actively considering the move, but that no offer had been made to NAB. Santander took on an extra 25m customers through its takeovers of Abbey, Alliance and Leicester and Bradford and Bingley. Santander could not immediately be reached for comment, but in an interview with the Sunday Times, Ana Botin, the group's chief executive, said that Santander's remained focused on expansion.