RBS lending to fewer clients

RBS Australia undertook some public relations via national newspapers in connection with the rebranding of the ABN Amro businesses under the names of its new owner, a bank itself now owned by the government of Britain.

The key theme is that RBS is still lending in Australia, though more selectively, on top of its blended corporate advisory and retail stock broking business.

Stephen Williams, chief executive of RBS, told the Financial Review "We cannot make the same commitment in terms of capital on the table to as many clients moving forward. Australia is core, we're here, we're here to stay but we will not be having as many relationships in absolute numbers as we once did.

"There will be an opportunity in some cases for us to actually increase our exposure. We will have capacity to do new origination where we want to do it."

One area RBS does not want to be is project financing.

Williams told The Australian the bank did not have the balance sheet to continue the business in Australia.

"The days of us being able to underwrite 100 per cent of the debt and warehousing the equity are over. That's not going to be possible," Williams told the newspaper.

"There has been a lot of discussion around how the federal and state governments are going to be able to maintain the pipeline of projects," he said.

"Private sector capital is not as largely available to the extent that it was previously."