RBS branch sale to Santander falls through

Santander has pulled the plug on the planned acquisition of 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland for £1.65bn.

This, the Financial Times reports, according to people close to the transaction.

One big stumbling block has been the compatibility of the RBS accounts with Santander's IT systems, the newspaper explains.

As well, the worsening economic environment may have diminished the allure for the Spanish group of trebling the size of its small and medium size business segment in the UK.

To be had in account, perhaps, the operation had run into delays on more than one occasion previously.

Under the terms of the agreement with the EU governing its state bail-out RBS has until the end of next year to dispose of those branches.

AB