The potential sale of RBS Morgans would not have any negative impact on its business or client service levels and could improve the group's partnership structure globally, the executive team of RBS Morgans said yesterday.
In a letter sent to clients, RBS Morgans managing director Brian Sheahan and executive chairman Tim Crommelin addressed the group's looming sale and potential implications.
"As you may be aware, RBS [Royal Bank of Scotland] (one of RBS Morgans shareholders) announced on 12 January 2012 a review of its wholesale banking operations," the letter, obtained by InvestorDaily, said.
"Given RBS is a 50 per cent shareholder in RBS Morgans and we share their name, we thought it important to clarify the implications of this review on RBS Morgans and our clients."
The letter said the decision for the sale was driven by poor conditions in global investment banking and "political imperatives", given the bank was over 80 per cent owned by the United Kingdom government following its bailout during the global financial crisis.
"We do not believe the RBS decision will have any negative implications on our business or client service levels and in fact may provide a catalyst for optimising our partnership structures globally," it said.
"We have received strong industry interest since the RBS announcement, which reflects our strong position within the marketplace as a leading financial services group.
"We have over 500 professional advisers in our group in 60 offices around Australia and have been an industry leader in research, capital raisings and technological development, which we believe enables our clients to enjoy a quality of products and advice second to none."
RBS Morgans said it would provide further updates as the process progressed.
According to reports, financial services adviser Lazard had been given less than a month to find a new owner for all or part of RBS.
RBS Morgans is an unlisted public company with around 100 shareholders, with RBS being a single shareholder with 50 per cent of the shares.
The company operates independently from RBS, with the only current operational input being as a contributor to RBS Morgans' equity research product suite.
