RBS appoints Alan Dickinson for branch sales

ROYAL Bank of Scotland has installed long-serving executive Alan Dickinson to head up the sale of its branch network in England and Wales, which is seen as an early candidate for disposal.

Dickinson, chairman of corporate banking since August, has been appointed executive chairman of UK branch divestment to oversee talks with potential buyers, which are believed to include National Australia Bank, owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks.

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester said last week that he had received a number of approaches about selling assets. The bank was last week ordered to offload the RBS branch network in England and Wales – the former Williams & Glyn's franchise – together with the NatWest branches in Scotland, RBS Insurance, Global Merchant Services and the bank's stake in RBS Sempra Commodities.

The appointment of Dickinson has been seen as an indication that the England and Wales business will be an early contender for sale. The Scotsman reported yesterday that RBS WorldPay, a US payment processing system, and part of the merchant services business, could be the subject of a £1.5 billion bid from its founders.

Dickinson has been with RBS since 1973 and is a member of the bank's group executive committee. He takes on the new role with immediate effect and will work with senior managers Brian Hartzer, Chris Sullivan and Ron Teerlink during the transition to a new owner.

Speculation around RBS's future continues, with one source claiming RBS will become a target for an overseas investor – as its headquarters infrastructure and state of the art processing systems present a "crown jewel" of British banking.

Banking risk expert Gavin Kretzschmar, director of finance and risk research at the University of Edinburgh, predicts Bank of China or other potential investors would find RBS an attractive asset to buy wholesale from the government, which owns 84 per cent of it following last week's bail-out.

He said European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes' decision to make RBS sell its lucrative commodities and global payments businesses "neutered" Hester's ambitions to run RBS along the lines of HSBC and Standard Chartered and pay back the taxpayer.

"Without a doubt he (Hester] is feeing emasculated by this decision. What they (RBS] would want to do is trade their way out of this risk, and that capability is being limited, no question. My sympathy is with him on that. Hester's aspirations and Kroes' aims have bumped into each other."

Kretzschmar said the bright side of the EC's ruling was the freeing up of the Lloyds TSB network in Scotland.

He welcomed the potential for a Scottish consortium to take the network over and establish a headquarters in Scotland. "More stakeholders would benefit from a home grown bank," he said.

Additional reporting Erikka Askeland