RBS to Exit From Private Banking Business

As part of its decision to sell international operations of its private banking arm Coutts, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plans to exit its private banking business in India.

DRBS private banking India has four offices spread across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai with 85 employees. The British bank, in which the state holds 81 per cent shares following a bailout in 2008, is under pressure to consolidate its overseas operations and focus on the home market to support economic growth.

The UK government had offered a financial package of £45 billion to the bank to remain afloat following the global financial crisis. RBS had got the Indian assets of ABN Amro Bank as part of a 3-way split of the Dutch bank after it was acquired along with Banco Santander of Spain and Fortis of Belgium in 2007.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had objected to RBS operating ABN Amro's Indian business under two separate entities, RBS and RBS Coutts. The regulator was of the view that Coutts is a separate entity and approval for use of the brand name would effectively mean allowing a backdoor entry for a bank. Hence, the UK bank branded its private banking business in the country as RBS Private Banking.

The British bank has been consistently consolidating its overseas operations. In 2010, it sold select Asian assets to the Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp in order to comply with bailout norms.