ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND TO SELL ITS PRIVATE BANKING BUSINESS IN INDIA

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is reportedly planning to close its private banking business in India, with an aim to reduce its non-UK footprint and focus on the home market.

The lender is selling its international private banking division Coutts, which has around $36bn in assets in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, reported The Economic Times.

In India, the division has four offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

RBS media desk head Linda Harper told the newspaper: "We have said we are exiting our Coutts International business and are looking at options including sale, which will include merging the business with another, joint ventures or a possible sale to reduce our footprint on non-UK-centric activities."

The UK Government, which holds 81% stake in RBS, bailed out the bank during the 2008 financial crunch. The lender has since been under pressure to consolidate its international business and focus on the home market.

As part of its plans to consolidate foreign operations, RBS already sold its select Asian assets to the Australia and New Zealand Banking (ANZ) in 2010.

The lender also tried to sell its Indian retail and commercial banking division to Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking, but it failed due to regulatory issues.