Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Australia confirmed that it isn’t for sale after its parent, RBS Group, said it would have to make divestments not initially contemplated to gain European Commission approval for state aid measures it received during the financial crisis.
“RBS spelt out a clear strategy in February for its Global Banking & Markets (GBM) business, endorsed by the RBS board and the UK Government,” an RBS Australia spokesperson said.
“In that plan Australia was identified as a core geography for the GBM business globally and that plan is unchanged.”
The spokesperson confirmed that RBS Australia would not be divested.
RBS Group said late on November 2 that with respect to the European Commission (EC), negotiations between UK Treasury and the EC are in their final stages and will include some divestments not initially contemplated.
The negotiations between the UK Treasury and EC are about the EC seeking to ensure that banks reliant on taxpayer support do not have an unfair competitive advantage, according to media reports.
RBS posted a net loss of $1.89 billion (GPB 1.04 billion) in the first half of 2009, after a $44.11 billion (GPB 24 billion) defcit in all of 2008, according to RBS Group’s financial statements.
RBS, HBOS and Lloyds TSB got $67 billion (GBP 37 billion) of UK Government bailout money last year.
The UK Government owned an equivalent of 70 per cent of RBS’ shares and 43 per cent of Lloyds Banking Group, according to UK Financial Investments, a company made to manage the government’s investments in financial institutions.
RBS Australia operates across debt & equity markets, infrastructure advisory, investment banking and also owns a 50 per cent stake in dealer group and stockbroker RBS Morgans.
RBS was renamed from ABN AMRO in March 2009.
