StanChart and ANZ said to buy RBS assets

1st Jul 2009 14:17

Standard Chartered and ANZ, Australia's fourth-largest lender, are reportedly in advanced talks to buy separate parts of Royal Bank of Scotland's Asian assets.The Financial Times is quoting people familiar with the matter as saying that Standard Chartered could snap up RBS assets in China, India and Malaysia, while ANZ is in talks to acquire the lender's units in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia."The process is progressing well but nothing is yet final," one person familiar with the matter told the paper.The FT also writes that the retail and commercial banking assets are expected to fetch around $1bn-$1.5bn.Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 70% owned by the taxpayer, originally planned to sell the entire business to one buyer for around $2bn.