R.B.S. to Split Off Troubled Loans of About $61 Billion Into "Bad Bank" - NYTimes.com

R.B.S. to Split Off Troubled Loans of About $61 Billion Into "Bad Bank" - NYTimes.com

Royal Bank of Scotland, which is principally owned by the British government after a bailout five years ago, said Friday that it would put its bad loans into a separate entity as part of a plan to speed up its revamp and return money to taxpayers.
The plan, which includes the creation of a so-called bad bank within R.B.S., came after the government had asked for a review into whether R.B.S. should be split up. R.B.S. also said it would focus on retail and commercial banking in its home market, Britain, raising questions about the future of its operations in the United States and other foreign markets.
“We are a bank with a significant international reach but the U.K. is our home,” said Ross McEwan, who took over as the bank’s chief executive at the beginning of October. The bank is separating about 38 billion pounds, or $61 billion, of toxic assets, including some property loans in Ireland.