The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has clarified Tuesday that its opposition to National Australia Bank's (NAB) takeover bid of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd is not necessarily applicable to other proposed mergers in the financial sector.

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said that their prime concern against a NAB-AXA merger is the likelihood that it will reduce competition in the market, adding that NAB's advance Navigator platform technology could hurt emerging rival platforms such as AXA's North platform.

In an interview with ABC, Mr Samuel pointed out that NAB has a technological edge in fund management and a merge with AXA "would remove the drive, the incentive for competition and innovation, and that would have substantially lessened competition in that market."

Also, he claims that ACCC's move would discourage possible mergers, arguing that every decision were made on specific issues as he pointed to the Commonwealth Bank and Bankwest or Westpac and Saint George mergers, which were decided on different reasons.

Mr Samuel stressed that ACCC is not out to map any new banking policy and matters such as banking consolidation or mergers will be studied carefully as they are put before the agency.

NAB, which had dangled a $14 billion proposed bid, is studying ACCC's action barring it from taking over AXA while approving a rival bid from AMP Ltd, which had offered $12.85 in its bid to merge with AXA.

In throwing out NAB's proposal, ACCC argued that the bank was a significant player in providing retail investment platforms for investors with complex needs, while AMP is presently not playing on that field.

On that note, the competition watchdog gave clearance for AMP to acquire AXA while not ruling out the possibility that NAB officials can still submit a new proposal that may prompt ACCC to reverse its decision.

For now, Mr Samuel is convinced of a healthier environment for the retail investment market as AMP is utilising a different investment platform, adding "So we don't see a clash there occurring."