RBS Bank to exit private banking business in India

Sanctum Wealth management acquires its business

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Britain’s largest state-owned lender, on Thursday signed an agreement to transfer its private banking business in India to Sanctum Wealth Management. The transfer is expected to be completed by the first quarter of the next financial year.

The lender has four private banking offices in India in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. Sanctum has decided to retain the existing branch network and plans to invest in people, technology, products and partnerships.

 

“Over the past few years, RBS has made considerable investments in the private banking business in India. We gave careful consideration in identifying a buyer that would minimise the impact to clients and staff and is committed to building on the investments made in the RBS India Private Banking franchise,” said  Brijesh Mehra, country executive, RBS India.

In March, RBS had also announced it would be selling off its internationally managed private banking and wealth management business to Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). This business included operations managed out of Switzerland, Monaco, UAE, Qatar, Singapore and Hong Kong but did not include the India business.

This decision to sell off the private banking business in India comes a few months after the management decided to exit the Indian market. The management had decided that it would look at consolidating its position in Britain.

With this, the bank had started reducing its India exposure. At the end of December 2014, the net balance sheet exposure of the operations in India fell by £1.7 billion to £2 billion. This shrinking came on the back of reductions in corporate lending, particularly in the oil and gas and mining & metals sectors, and in lending to banks, largely trade finance.

However, the bank has decided to retain its back-office operations in India. Earlier this year, the lender had also moved 60 back-office roles from the UK to India and it is believed to employ a total of 12,000 people.