Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS,RBS.L) is close to selling its remaining Asian retail and commercial banking assets to peer HSBC Holdings plc (HBC,HSBA.L), according to media reports on Wednesday. The two companies have reportedly struck a deal, which is pending regulatory approval and is expected to close this month.
RBS put the Asian assets up for sale in March following a strategic review. The bank's regional retail banking platform expanded after its acquisition of the Asian operations of ABN Amro Holding NV in 2007. RBS paid GBP10 billion for its part of ABN Amro, which included the Asian businesses and wholesale-banking operations in Europe.
The Asian retail and commercial banking assets put up by RBS for sale include 28 branches in India and 13 in China, and is expected to fetch about $300 million. By selling its Asia retail and commercial operations, RBS will pare its list of 10,000 corporate clients to fewer than 1,000. However, RBS plans to retain its investment-banking operations and corporate-banking business in the region.
RBS' assets in China, India and Malaysia are the final part of an auction that commenced earlier this year, as the U.K. lender continues to trim operations to repay a bailout by the UK government during the financial crisis.
RBS will soon be owned 84% by the UK government, compared with 70% currently, after it decided to participate in a state insurance plan to protect it against big impairment losses. In late November, the bank said it signed an accession agreement to the UK government's Asset Protection Scheme.
In August, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZBY.PK) bought RBS' retail, wealth management and commercial-banking operations in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, and its institutional businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, for $550 million. Pakistan's MCB Bank Ltd. bought the bank's Pakistan operations.
Another UK-based bank, Standard Chartered plc (STAN.L), was earlier said to be in exclusive talks with RBS over the Indian, Chinese and Malaysian assets, but the talks stalled over price, and discussions later reopened with HSBC. Reports in early October had said that Standard Chartered was willing to pay $200 million-$250 million for the assets, but RBS were looking for much more.
Meanwhile, HSBC's interest for the assets underscore the bank's focus on growth in Asia, a region in which it already has a strong presence. Because of its exposure to Asia, U.K.-based HSBC has been able to weather the financial crisis better than many of its peers.
Michael Geoghegan, HSBC's group chief executive, is slated to relocate from London to Hong Kong by the end of January to oversee the bank's development in markets such as China and India.
In October, HSBC came close to acquiring the Asian private banking assets sold by Dutch financial services firm ING Group NV (ING). The assets were acquired by Singapore-based Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd., or OCBC, for $1.46 billion.
Meanwhile, media reports also said that several banks and other companies have signaled an interest in buying RBS' stake in Sempra Commodities, the bank's commodities-trading venture with utility company Sempra Energy (SRE). RBS is being forced to sell its share of the joint venture in Sempra as part of the concessions demanded by the European Commission for the state aid the bank has received during the financial crisis. RBS acquired a 51% stake in the venture in 2007 for about $1.7 billion.
RBS closed Wednesday's regular trading session on the NYSE at $9.97, down $0.01 or 0.10% on a volume of 0.46 million shares, while HBC closed trading on the NYSE at $57.48, up $0.36 or 0.63% on a volume of 2.39 million shares.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.