Great Western shrunk 22 October 2008 5:22PM Ian Rogers Great Western Bank in the United States - NAB's ill-timed purchase in the United States agreed eleven months ago - isn't quite the bank it was represented to be at the time.In November 2007 Great Western, according to NAB's investor relations, had US$3.4 billion and 800 employees.As at September 2008 and after four months of ownership, NAB reported average assets for the South Dakota-based bank of only US$2.6 billion and growth of 11 per cent, annualised over four months, to US$3.2 billion.So Great Western's management had the brakes on between agreeing terms for the sale and actually completing the sale to NAB. Great Western now has 816 employees.