RBS to sell private banking business to Sanctum Wealth

The move to sell the private banking business comes a few months after the management decided to exit the Indian market

Britain's largest state-owned bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in talks to sell off its private banking operations to Sanctum Wealth Management. For this, the lender has signed a non-binding agreement and is still in discussions.

"Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc has signed a non-binding framework agreement and is now in discussions to sell RBS India Private Banking, to Sanctum Wealth Management. Sanctum will be led by Shiv Gupta, currently managing director of RBS' private banking operations in India," said an RBS spokesperson in an emailed response.

The lender has four private banking offices in India located in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

The statement added, "This arrangement would ensure continuity for clients and establish a framework to take the business forward. This marks another step towards delivering the strategy to make RBS a stronger, simpler, more sustainable business, more aligned with the needs of our customers in the UK and Western Europe."

The move comes a few months after the management decided to exit the Indian market. The management had decided it would look at consolidating its position in the UK.

The bank had started reducing its footprint in India since 2013 when it sold off its retail and commercial banking business. Recently, it sold off its bullion financing business to IndusInd bank.

At the end of December 2014, the net balance sheet exposure of the bank's operations in India fell by £1.7 billion to £2.0 billion. This shrinking of books came on the back of reductions in corporate lending - particularly in the oil & gas, and mining & metals sectors -and in lending to banks.

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