THE former chief executive of Clydesdale Bank's owner has declared that National Australia Bank will get out of the UK market eventually.

Cameron Clyne told told the press in his home country he spent six years of his life on the Scottish-based operation.

And the Australian Financial Review reported that Mr Clyne had, when asked about NAB's move to make acquisitions in the UK in the late-1980s and early-1990s, pointed out the anomaly that a relatively quick strategic decision could take years to unpick.

"I spent six years of my life on it," Mr Clyne told the newspaper recently. "They'll get out of there eventually." Mr Clyne's remarks are the latest in a slew of apparently negative comments about the UK operation made by serving and former top brass of NAB. When he was executive director of finance at NAB, Mark Joiner told Australian journalists in 2011: "Why do we need to bias our capital to the UK when the economy [there] is expected to be on its knees for 10 years or so? There are growth opportunities in Australia." He added: "The market is at the bottom ... it is a rotten time to sell. There will be no fire sale."

A Clydesdale Bank spokesman yesterday declined to comment on Mr Clyne's remarks. Last month, it was announced that Clydesdale was planning to set aside at least another £245 million to meet customer redress claims.