Transcript of Mike Baird NAB

The infrastructure market in Australia has been one that's not just significant here, but around the world. In terms of the size and the number of the transactions it's probably about number three in the world. Relative to other geographies so it's a very significant market.

Part of it has been developed by an expertise and understanding of portability of capital into the infrastructure space and you've seen an aggressive program of asset renewal across the country. So, as governments constrained by finances have looked for programs and opportunities to renew and build new infrastructure they've invited the private sector across a range of various models and that has obviously led to many players in the market being aware of infrastructure and looking for those opportunities.

Funds investing, banks supporting, all of that has played a key role as the nation has gone through a significant renewal in infrastructure and this is being replicated, to some degree or other, across the world. So it’s a very important market of which we have been a key player.

Again we have the third largest funds under management market in the world, so they are looking for investment opportunities. Infrastructure has become a class that's become increasingly common place so funds across the world are looking for investments in infrastructure it used to be very small percentages, now it's up to ten, fifteen per cent of asset portfolios are allocated into infrastructure and that means they're looking for increasing opportunities. In Australia there's been a significant number, but in the foreseeable future we expect to see that to diminish but other markets are starting to open up.

Markets such as the U.S., huge ambitions in terms of infrastructure, so there's no doubt, as our clients and these funds start to look for additional assets in the infrastructure space they will increasingly be going overseas. Well, National Australia Bank's got a very unique proposition and we are, over the last ten years, the largest provider of infrastructure finance in this market, so the third largest market in the world.

Looking at the global rankings, we're in the top fifteen banks and providers of infrastructure finance. But it's not just finance, it's the understanding, the capacity we have to bring other products alongside the infrastructure finance and subsets. Renewable energy is something we have also led with. Significant investment in new renewable energy, not just here but across the world.

So, we've got capacity here, we've got capacity and talent and expertise in the regions where growth is expected, so the U.S., we have significant capability and have been a key player there, and we expect as our clients grow we will continue to support them, obviously with additional investments and new opportunities and that's our role.

We grow if our clients grow, and, really, that's the story. The word 'infrastructure' often will get people glazing over but if you understand that improving accessibility on a road means you're getting home twenty to twenty-five minutes earlier to see your family when otherwise you might not, whether it means taking your children to a brand new hospital rather than the one that's fifty years old, great staff, doing an incredible job, but they haven't got the facilities to match, or whether it be public transport, taking away congestion off our roads, improving travel times, improving quality of life and productivity which provides more jobs and employment.

As a package, it impacts almost every part of daily life, so infrastructure is critical not just in terms of the economics of investments, but the difference it makes to people on a daily basis.