National Australia Bank is set to continue its own version of slimming down to become a smaller more banking focused operation. Yesterday, group chief executive officer Andrew Thorburn unveiled NAB's cash earnings of A$3.29 billion, down 0.2 per cent on the comparable period in 2017, and announced the "separation" of MLC and most of NAB's other wealth businesses by 2019. Highlights from the group's core banking performance, at least from Thorburn's viewpoint, were that revenue was up 2.5 per cent with growth in housing and business lending, combined with higher margins. This was partly offset by lower markets and Treasury income.Net interest margin was up five basis points, reflecting repricing lower funding costs, partly offset by the impact of the bank levy and housing levy competition and product mix changes.In an upbeat presentation to analysts yesterday, Thorburn said NAB was "mobilising and executing the acceleration of our plan, announced last November, to deliver on targets including more than $1 billion in cost savings and an estimated $1.5 billion in additional investment by FY 20.The contentious aspect of these savings is the large scale workforce reduction - or, as Thorburn pitched it to analysts yesterday, "reshaping workforce to have the right people with the right skills for the future."Some of the pain has been at the expense of middle management positions: "we have reduced management layers between the CEO and front-line employees to be closer to our customers and make quicker better decisions for them."Around 1050 FTE employees left NAB by the end of April, against a target of 6000 by the end of FY 20.In his presentation yesterday, the NAB CEO noted that during 1H18 the bank hired 93 new FTE employees "as we build towards our target of 2000 additional roles".The group is also aiming to build cloud computing skills for more than 2000 NAB employeesThe big news, though, was dropped midway through the the half year results presentation with analysts. This was the announcement that NAB was changing its wealth management strategy, which Thorburn said was "consistent with our plan to become simpler, faster and focused on core banking. "A detailed review, conducted over nine months, determined we could best serve the needs of our customers and deliver long-term value for our shareholders by retaining and investing in a more focused wealth offering."NAB will be exiting its advice platform and superannuation and asset management businesses, currently operating under MLC and other brands. "Independent ownership will allow for this business to determine its own strategy and investment priorities to better deliver for customers and enhance its competitive position," Thorburn said."We are targeting separation by the end of 2019 calendar year by a public market options including demerger and IPO will while maintaining flexibility to consider trade sale options."It is expected there will be ongoing arrangements between NAB and MLC to offer NAB customers continued access to advice and products to meet their wealth management needsNAB will be retaining JBWere within its business and private banking franchise, "helping