Hard on the heels of selling its flagship rolling stock
operating company (Rosco) business, Angel Trains, for £3.6bn, the
Royal Bank of Scotland is also about to exit structured asset
finance, Leasing Life can reveal.
The move, like the sale of Angel Trains, is in response to the
bank’s massive cash write-offs and share price drop in the wake of
the global credit crisis, as well as its attempt to raise capital
for the acquisition of ABN AMRO.
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Structured asset finance is a separate entity to RBS’s leasing
division Lombard, and sits within the bank’s global banking and
markets division. It has operations in London, Paris, Frankfurt,
Madrid, New York, Sydney and Hong Kong.
An RBS spokesperson said: “We have engaged in a consultation
process on the closure of the Structured Asset Finance Business.
“In light of current conditions in some parts of the global credit
markets we are looking at the appropriate size for our businesses
affected by this downturn. We also have an expanded customer base,
geographic footprint and product range as a result of the ABN AMRO
acquisition and are committed to investing in those businesses that
offer the best opportunities for growth.”
A senior source at RBS structured asset finance said that the
various global divisions have not entirely shut down yet, and is
“technically, at the current time, open to new business”.
However, an external source has reported that the structured
asset finance division in Australia has already been shut for one
month.
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By GlobalDataRBS structured asset finance will not sell all its assets, it is
understood.
