The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is considering a British government-backed plan to sell of more than 300 high street branches to satisfy EU competition authorities, the Financial Times said yesterday.
RBS, which is 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer after it was saved from collapse by a government bail-out last year, told the newspaper it was "working towards a solution with the European Commission".
Officials close to the negotiations said the plan was well advanced. The plan hinges on the EU's concerns that RBS has a 30-per-cent share of the small business banking market in Britian. Brussels wants to see RBS's operations in the sector reduced by 10 per cent.
The Scottish bank could achieve this by disposing of its 312 RBS-branded branches in England and Wales, which mostly serve its one million small corporate customers.
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