RBS set to exit Asia corporate banking operations -Bloomberg
(Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is preparing to withdraw from its Asian corporate banking business and put most of it up for sale, according to a report by Bloomberg citing a person with knowledge of the discussions.
Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan would be holding a series of meetings in Singapore on Sunday to discuss ideas to scale back the British government-backed lender’s Asian operations, the report said citing the person, who asked not to be identified because the meetings are private. (http://bloom.bg/14luLVX)
In February 2014, McEwan, who has steered the bank back into profit this year after it made a loss of 8.2 billion pounds in 2013, announced a series of cost-cutting measures and disposals.
RBS is 81-percent owned by the British government following a 45 billion pound ($68.31 billion) rescue operation after the financial crisis and is now under pressure to focus on loans to UK households and businesses and help support the country's economic recovery.
It has undergone a major restructuring in order to pay back taxpayers funds and eventually return to private ownership, and is stepping closer to doing both after it posted a 1.3 billion pound quarterly profit recently.
The bank's 2,000 employees in the Asia-Pacific region could be affected by the withdrawal, Bloomberg said, citing the person. "RBS would probably keep some operations in Singapore offering clients dollar, euro and yen fixed-income products," the person added.
An RBS official declined to comment.
($1 = 0.6587 pounds)
(Reporting By Aurindom Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Eric Walsh)
