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RBS sells offshore leasing assets to Investec and Shawbrook - report
Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to sell off its offshore leasing businesses to Investec and Shawbrook due to new regulatory pressures around 'ring fencing', a report revealed on Wednesday.
RBS, which is still 72% owned by the taxpayer after the state bailout at the height of the financial crisis, has reached a deal to offload the operations of its Lombard Finance subsidiary based in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar for roughly £150m, according to Sky News.
Challenger bank Shawbrook, which was taken private last year, and the UK arm of Anglo-South African bank Investec have agreed to split Lombards Jersey and Guernsey assets, with Investec said also to have snapped up the businesses on the Isle of Man and Gibraltar
Sources with knowledge of the deal told Sky that new rules that force larger high street lenders to ring-fence their retail bank business from more risky investment banking prevented Lombard's offshore activities from being included in RBS's ring-fenced bank nor its non-ring-fenced unit.
In November, it was revealed that Chancellor Philip Hammond is preparing to re-privatise RBS by selling £3bn worth of shares before the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year and a further £12bn of its stake over the coming four years. The government poured £45.5bn into RBS during the financial crisis.