LONDON - The Royal Bank of Scotland said on Wednesday that it would sell its structured retail investor products and equity derivatives business to BNP Paribas.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 81 percent owned by the British government following a bailout in 2008, announced plans last year to sell the business as part of a plan to scale back its investment bank and focus on retail and commercial banking in Britain, its home market.
Terms of the deal weren’t announced.
“The proposed transaction is in line with the strategic repositioning and de-risking of the markets division of the R.B.S. Group,†the bank said.
The deal is subject to approval by competition authorities and is expected to be implemented in phases in 2014 and 2015.
The transaction is expected to transfer risk management and market-making operations for up to 15 billion pounds, or about $25 billion, of liabilities over time.
Last year, the bank announced a broad plan to sell assets and cut jobs to appease regulators and the British government.
R.B.S. also said it would separate £38 billion of troubled assets into an “internal bad bank†in the company and moved up plans for an initial public offering of its Citizens Financial Group unit in the United States to the second half of this year.
Under the leadership of Ross McEwan, the bank’s chief executive, R.B.S. is trying to transform itself into a more customer-focused organization, but has stumbled through a series of setbacks in recent months.
An embarrassing computer malfunction left customers unable to use their debit and credit cards for a time during the Christmas shopping season, and the bank’s chief financial officer abruptly departed last year after only three months on the job.
In January, R.B.S. said it would set aside nearly 3 billion pounds, or about $5 billion, in the fourth quarter to cover potential litigation claims related to mortgage-backed securities and other products sold before the financial crisis. The bank is set to report its year-end results on Feb. 27.
Last week, the credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service placed R.B.S. on review for a potential downgrade of its debt ratings in light of the planned capital hit.
