LONDON â€" The Royal Bank of Scotland said Monday that it was in talks to sell its structured retail investor products and equity derivatives business.
The bank announced plans in June to sell the business as its scales back its investment bank and focuses on retail and commercial banking in Britain, its home market.
R.B.S. said Monday that it was in discussions with an unnamed party about a possible sale of the unit.
“No agreement has been entered into and there is no certainty that an agreement will be reached,†R.B.S. said in a statement. The bank did not specify how much it sought for the unit.
R.B.S. declined further comment.
The bank remains 81 percent owned by the British government after it received billions of dollars in a bailout during the financial crisis.
Earlier this month, the bank said it would separate about 38 billion pounds, or $61.3 billion, of toxic assets into a separate “internal bad bank†within the company2. The decision came following a government review over whether R.B.S. should be split up.
The bank also has announced plans to move up the initial public offering of its Citizens Financial Group unit in the United States to the second half of 2014.
