and enters into talks to merge it with competitors


Embattled Royal Bank of Scotland is mulling a move to splice its Ulster Bank business with Irish rivals after failing to find a buyer for the troubled unit. The taxpayer-backed lender is eyeing a tie-up of Ulster with other lenders to slash costs at the loss-making division and boost its position in the Irish market, according to reports.Potential merger candidates could be Permanent TSB or the Irish subsidiaries of Danske Banke or KBC. Alongside last week’s annual results RBS revealed higher losses at Ulster, with the bank falling deeper into the red and running up operating losses of £1.5billion in 2013 against £1billion in 2012. RBS is now said to be talking to private equity firms about backing a scheme to merge Ulster with competitors, which could see the bank’s stake reduced to below 50 per cent. The report came as chief executive Ross McEwan told a Sunday newspaper the end of free-if-in-credit banking now looked almost inevitable with the introduction of direct charges for current accounts probably only a matter of time.......Read more here