Ratnakar Bank pips Yes Bank to buy select businesses of RBS India

[caption id=“attachment_3990” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ratnakar Bank has pipped YES Bank and IndusInd Bank in the race to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s business banking, credit cards and mortgage businesses in India[/caption]

Ratnakar Bank will acquire Royal Bank of Scotland’s Indian credit cards, mortgage and commercial banking portfolios, it said on Friday.

Ratnakar Bank, a small-sized private sector lender, will acquire about 120,000 customers through the deal. Employees of RBS associated with these portfolios will be absorbed by the bank, it said in a statement without disclosing the deal size.

RBS has a high-value current account and forex business. Its mortgage business is 8-12 months old and this will add to the portfolio, the official added. The acquisition of RBS’ credit card business will help Ratnakar Bank foray into a new line of business. The three business segments are expected to help the bank enhance its CASA (current account savings account) deposits.

RBS will continue to operate its corporate and institutional business, and private banking in India, it said.

The Kohlapur-based bank, flush with funds raised by selling stock to private equity funds, beat Axis, IndusInd and Standard Chartered, ending years of speculation about the fate of those assets.

A plan by RBS, majority owned by the UK government, to sell the Indian businesses to HSBC Holdings had fallen through in November last year.

In January, mid-sized private sector lender Yes Bank had said it was interested in acquiring RBS’ India retail assets.

The private-equity backed Ratnakar, whose top ranks are filled with pros from Wall Street banks, has a wide presence in western India.

Agencies