Commercial Finance Specialists

Last month, Chancellor George Osborne called on the taxpayer-backed RBS to shrink its investment banking arm. Now, the restructure is set to go ahead, with a potential loss of up to 10,000 more jobs.

Taxpayers may have to stomach a bill of over £1 billion in restructuring costs as RBS looks to downsize, but the bank is now seeking to reduce its dependence on risk, and forfeit an ideology that had largely centred on wealthy investment bankers trying to trade the bank into profit.

As part of the restructure, RBS will shed its £4 billion Dublin-based aircraft finance arm, with the shortlist down to three bidders; its insurance operations, which include Direct Line and Churchill; and its famous broking arm, Hoare Govett, which may be snapped up by the Bank of Canada.

In an embarrassing comedown for the bank that Sir Fred Goodwin had tried to build beyond reasonable proportion, the EU has ordered RBS to float its insurance division as a result of receiving a state bailout.

RBS has hired the US investment bank Lazard to offload its corporate finance businesses, and has asked interested bidders for parts of its investment banking arm to submit offers before the end of January.

RBS’s Chief Executive, Stephen Hester, is expected to announce the results of the strategic review of the bank’s markets division ahead of its full-year results in February.