Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to off load up to GBP3bn of property loans, which it made during the property boom, in a move to shrink its non-core assets.
The sell off is part of RBS’ five-year project to off load large portion of its business that the Edinburgh-based bank can no longer afford to maintain, reported the Financial Times.
According to the report, RBS has been working with Lazard to draft a structure to shed vast portfolio of property loans.
By the end of March 2010, the portfolio had been shrunk to GBP194bn, but property assets which have been harder to reduce, now account for more than a quarter of the total, reported the news paper.
RBS, which was part-nationalized at the height of the financial turmoil, was mandated by the European Union to off load a string of assets to compensate for state aid. The bank has already exited or sold over 20 businesses in the last 14 months and several more are expected soon.