Foreign news: RBS sells North American assets, banking IT budgets keep growing, UK banks face more m

The Royal Bank of Scotland will sell a US$5.6 billion North American corporate loan portfolio to Mizuho Bank, its second deal with the Japanese bank in three months. In February it sold US$3 billion of North American loan commitments to Mizuho Bank. RBS will record a loss on disposal of around US$30 million.
IT research specialist Ovum said the IT budgets in the global retail banking industry would reach US$131 billion this year and rise to US$158 billion by 2019. Mobile banking would see the biggest increase in budgets, reaching US$4.2 billion this year, Ovum said. Online banking would rise by seven per cent, reaching US$10.8 billion.
Britain's big four banks face a further Â£19 billion in charges to cover misconduct and litigation this year and next as the payouts become a "way of life", according to a new report by Standard & Poor's. The sum will be in addition to the Â£42 billion paid out by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and Royal Bank of Scotland in the five years to 2014. The report predicts 2015 will be the worst year for charges for the big four, totalling just under Â£14 billion, with Â£5 billion pencilled in for next year.