Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is set to announce the sale of a partial stake in Citizens, its US retail banking subsidiary.
RBS has been under pressure from The Financial Services Authority (FSA) to sell Citizens to boost its capital ratios and concentrate its focus on its core UK business.
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Analysts estimate Citizens is worth around £7.5bn ($11.4bn), which could make a significant contribution to restoring RBS’s balance sheet.
To date, RBS has resisted calls to sell Citizens, despite interest shown in its US unit from a number of banks.
Canada-based Toronto-Dominion and Brazil’s Itau-Unibanco have been linked with the purchase of Citizens. US-based PNC is another potential bidder.
RBS will announce its full-year results on 28 February.
According to analysts, RBS is expected to announce that it has made a pre-tax loss of approximately £4bn.
Citizens, headquartered in Rhode Island, operates in 12 US states; it is a top 20 US bank with assets of $132bn, around 1,400 branches and a staff of 19,000 employees.
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