New bidders in last ditch offer for 300 RBS branches

THE Royal Bank of Scotland could be granted a last- ditch reprieve after Clydesdale Bank announced a bid for its Williams & Glyn branch network.

Natwest owner RBS has been scrambling to ditch the 300 branches ahead of a European Union deadline, or else face the possibility of being forced by Brussels to sell at a loss.

If the deal goes ahead it will end a saga which first began in 2008 when the EU demanded the split as a condition of RBS’s £46bn taxpayer bailout.

RBS had initially planned to float the branches on the stock market under the name of Williams & Glyn, a finance brand which ceased to exist in 1985.

But the spin-off proved far more costly and complicated than expected, with bills reaching £50m a month, and RBS abandoned its efforts earlier this year.

There were then rumours of a private sale to Santander, without creating a separate bank, but talks were said to have collapsed last month. It is not clear if Clydesdale is offering similar terms. A spokesman for the suitor declined to comment. An RBS spokesman said: ‘We con- tinue to explore options in meeting our obligations to the European Commission.’

The branch network is worth around £1.3bn, although it is expected to sell for less.

RBS is expected to continue the run of losses since its bailout when reporting third- quarter results on Friday, with analysts predicting a £231m loss.

Brussels officials have demanded the network is sold by the end of 2017. If the EU cut-off date is missed, the bloc could step in and oversee the sale.

Insiders are nonetheless expecting the bank to this week say this deadline will be missed.

It follows claims RBS gave staff extra bonus points if they sold fee-charging packaged accounts to customers in the run-up to the financial crisis. RBS gave staff 200 points when they sold its Advantage Gold account to new customers, documents from 2006 reportedly reveal. But employees got just 25 points for opening a free current account.

A spokesman said the bank had changed since 2006 and the incentive scheme had closed.