Santander leads pack for £4bn RBS branches
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Santander is reported to be frontrunner to buy 320 RBS UK branches for £4bn.
According to the Times, a sale memorandum was released last week but it has emerged this weekend that the buyer of £1bn of Willams & Glyn’s branch network would also have to reimburse the £3bn emergency fund the Bank of England gave RBS to keep the branches running.
The report also says a buyer would have to invest £2bn into the £24bn loan book that would be a part of the deal.
Santander already owns the branch networks of Bradford & Bingley, Abbey and Alliance & Leicester. As a result it has 1,303 branches in the UK with 25 million customers.
The Times says Liberal Democrats Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable has warned that the branches must be sold to new banking entrants to ensure competition in the sector.
RBS is being forced to sell branches and a percentage of its loan book by the European Competition Commission to even out the market after its bailout by the UK Government.
The reports suggest that Virgin Bank and the National Australian Bank are both still in the race to buy up some of the RBS branches also.
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