Royal Bank of Scotland announced last week it will speed up plans to shed Citizens Bank by selling a stake in the company in a public stock. offering next year.
Royal, which is under the majority ownership of the British government, plans to sell off its remaining stake in 2016. RBS wants to shed bad loans in Irish real estate and other areas.
“It is a good business, with the potential to build profitability and its own shareholder base, but it’s not one that is an essential element of our strategy,” RBS CEO Ross McEwan said of Citizens, which has branches in Delaware.
Citizens has mostly stayed pat in the state in recent years. It has been aggressive on the business banking front. Citizens’ stronghold is in New England.
RBS has been working on the bad loans through the use of a separate bank for those loans.
Earlier in October, rumors popped up regarding TD Bank acquiring Citizens appeared after a story in a London newspaper. However, industry analysts were skeptical about the report.
