NAB set to pounce on Northern Rock. National Australia Bank is gearing up for a takeover of nationalised British lender Northern Rock and has held a "beauty parade" of potential advisers on the deal, The Observer reports. NAB, which already owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks in the UK, has hosted presentations by Lazard, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley as it prepares for opportunities that will follow a radical shake-up of the British banking sector this year, the newspaper...

International Monetary Fund has upgraded its outlook for the Australian economy this year, forecasting only a modest contraction in 2009 and a sharper rebound in 2010.

OECD Predicts Australia's downturn to be shorter than expected AUSTRALIA is set to soar out of its economic downturn sooner and more sharply than forecast in the budget, according to updated forecasts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development understood to have the Australian Treasury's backing....