Royal Bank of Scotland branch sale approved by European Commission

The sale of 300 Royal Bank of Scotland branches has this weekend been given the approval of the European Commission with Spanish giant Santander acquiring the assets in question. This is the final piece of the jigsaw in relation to the UK government's recent bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland and fulfils the requirements of a European Commission order to reduce the company's share of the UK banking arena.

While there is still much to do in relation to Royal Bank of Scotland and a reorganisation of the business post the credit crunch, this is certainly a step in the right direction. The company has recently been disposing of various niche loan books and is looking to reduce loan assets by anywhere up to £258 billion in the medium to longer term. This is a company which entered the credit crunch as the largest financial operation in the world and will leave the worldwide economic downturn as a shadow of itself former self.

Santander is most definitely the rising star of the UK financial arena having acquired a number of UK assets over the last few years and indeed, if rumours are correct, the company is looking to float its UK operations on the stock market.