article: Reports in Australia say that it could knock as much as Â£200m (A$425m) off its value. The parent company of the bank plans to float the Glasgow-based lender in Australia later this year. Chancellor George Osborne announced he was phasing out the bank levy. He also announced plans to introduce an 8% surcharge on bank profits, in addition to corporation tax. That knocked share prices of smaller UK banks which are already traded. A bank analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia calculated that would knock A$425m off its valuation, and suggested that could push National Australia Bank (NAB) to sell off a larger stake in order to meet its target for raising capital. A spokesman for the NAB was reported by the Melbourne Herald Sun saying the move would have no impact on the parent bank's earnings. A spokesman in Glasgow for Clydesdale Bank, which includes the Yorkshire Bank brand, declined to comment. Clydesdale Bank is seen at the Melbourne headquarters and in the Australian media as a drag on NAB, having amassed a large portfolio of bad property loans, and the high costs of redress for mis-selling financial products. The new NAB chief executive, Andrew Thorburn, has made it a priority to split Clydesdale, handing up to 80% of it to NAB investors and selling the remainder on London and Australian exchanges. Earlier this week, senior staff at NAB in Melbourne set out the case for investing in the spun-off UK bank, to institutional investors in Australia. They portrayed it as one of the so-called challenger banks which is best placed to take on the British market's 'big five'.
summary: The surcharge tax on bank profits announced in the Budget is being seen as another blow for the sale of Clydesdale Bank.