Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the wreck of a once fine bank now 70% owned by the taxpayer, saw its shares fall by up to 14% this morning as it announced that it may be forced by the EU to sell more assets than planned.
Quote:
"It remains RBS's goal that any required divestments do not threaten its recovery plan."
Up for possible sale are Churchill, Direct Line and Green Flag insurance operations; along with more than 300 bank branches and its Global Merchant Acquiring card-processing unit. It may also have to downsize its investment banking arm.
Whilst these brands all have value, being part of the forced sale will inevitably reduce much of that value and the price that RBS hopes to be able to extract from any deal.
The forced sale is in order to satisfy EU policy that attempts to ensure that RBS doesn't have an unfair advantage in the market. The EU is also gunning for Lloyds Banking Group, which may have to sell assets and branches, and Northern Rock which is splitting into two.
Alistair Darling tried to spin this positively yesterday, by saying that the creation of three new banks will stimulate competition.
All very well, but if this is such an important issue, why did the government not intervene some years earlier in order to stimulate competition and provide consumers with more choice?
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