RBS closes turnaround unit

8th Aug 2014 15:42

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has decided to shut down its turnaround division, with the two most senior currently in charge of the department set to leave the bank, Reuters reported on Friday.UK government advisor Lawrence Tomlinson last year accused the division of pushing small businesses to collapse to then gain a financial advantage from their demise.RBS, which is 81% government-owned, commissioned an independent report, which found the bank was not guilty of attempting to embezzle its customers and RBS was subsequently cleared of any accusations.The bank, however, insisted it would revise the way it dealt with some of its borrowers and it informed its staff of the structural change by email on Friday.RBS also confirmed that Derek Sach, who heads the division, and Aubrey Adams, who leads its property division, will both leave the bank on 31 March next year.The former came under scrutiny by a UK parliamentary committee for claiming that the division wasn't a profit centre when the bank later wrote to the committee accepting the use of the term.The firm said the new restructuring division will work more closely with the bank's main restructuring group and the division will be head by Laura Barlow.RBS shares were up 2.37% at 345.40p at 14:51 on Friday.DC