RBS asset sale fails
THE Royal Bank of Scotland said yesterday the £53million sale of its Pakistan subsidiary had collapsed after failing to secure regulatory approval, writes David Craik.
The troubled bank said in August that it had agreed to sell a 99.4 per cent stake in RBS Pakistan to Karachi-based MCB Bank. But in a stock-exchange statement RBS said the “deal had lapsed” because the necessary approvals from regulators had not been received by December 31. It did not reveal which agency or agencies had failed to clear the deal.
RBS, which is 84 per cent owned by the Government after a multi-billion-pound bail-out, is reducing its global footprint as it seeks to rebuild its balance sheet.
It announced last February that it was seeking to dispose of retail and commercial businesses in Asia and withdraw from wholesale operations in Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan and Pakistan.
The bank bought into Pakistan through its disastrous £49billion acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro.
The Pakistan subsidiary operates through 75 branches in 24 cities and serves more than 300,000 customers.