Royal Bank of Scotland to announce further asset disposals
The Royal Bank of Scotland is this week expected to announce further asset sales of around £4.3 billion in a move which was expected by analysts and will further focus the group's attention on its core banking operations. The company is set to confirm the sale of 318 Royal Bank of Scotland branch is to Santander for around £1.8 billion and a further £2 billion will be raised by the sale of the company's Global Merchant Services division to Advent International.
Those who have followed the UK banking sector over the last few years will be well aware that Royal Bank of Scotland is now 83% owned by UK taxpayers and as such is under the indirect control of the UK government. The company has disposed of a number of non-core assets over the last 12 months in order to pay down the company's debt and refocus the operation, which was in eyes of many of the largest banking group in the world at the height of the boom times.
It will be interesting to see the size and shape of Royal Bank of Scotland once the asset disposals have been completed and whether in fact there is scope for further expansion once the economy settles down and the banking arena is back in vogue.
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