Britain Seeks to Cancel Sale of R.B.S. Branch Network
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A branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh in 2014. The lender is required by European regulators to divest a branch network as a condition of the government bailout of 45 billion pounds, or $56 billion, that it received during the financial crisis. CreditAndy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
LONDON — The British government said on Friday that it would ask the European Commission not to require Royal Bank of Scotland to sell its Williams & Glyn branch network by the end of this year.
The lender, which is based in Edinburgh, is required by European regulators to divest the branch network as a condition of the government bailout of 45 billion pounds, or $56 billion, that it received during the financial crisis.
The government would like to gradually sell its stake in R.B.S. but has been stymied by the pace of the bank’s recovery. R.B.S. has not reported a full-year profit since 2007, as legal and legacy issues have depressed its results…
Britain Seeks to Cancel Sale of R.B.S. Branch Network
