The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has green lighted National Australia Bank (NAB)’s proposed acquisition of digital lender 86 400.

In a statement, ACCC said that it will not oppose the proposed deal. The decision was taken following a review that concluded that the takeover will not weaken market competition.

The watchdog also consulted with several industry stakeholders where most of the parties raised no or limited concerns with the transaction.

ACCC Chair Rod Sims said: “Market feedback suggested that while 86 400 is innovative, particularly in reducing the time and effort in completing home loan applications, there are a number of other businesses with similar offerings or the ability to replicate them. These other competitors continue to bring a similar disruptive influence to the market.

“Supporting our decision is that we have seen several banks and non-bank lenders outside the big four invest heavily in their technology and service offering to improve user experience.

“Whilst in this instance we found that the removal of 86 400 is unlikely to substantially lessen competition in the market, we will continue to closely scrutinise proposed acquisitions of emerging competitors, particularly by major banks.”

86 400 was launched in 2019 as a digital only bank to provide banking services through an app.

In January this year, NAB signed a scheme implementation deal to acquire 86 400 Holdings, the holding company of the digital lender.

The deal was valued at around $168.5m.

Once the transaction closes, NAB will integrate its existing digital arm UBank with 86 400.