Next year Royal Bank of Scotland will start government stake exit

Next year Royal Bank of Scotland will start government stake exit

According to the reports by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland said that the ban aims to put the conditions in place for the British government to start selling its 83 percent stake in the bank next year. While the sale "won't be conducted in one go," it still should be started, believes Chief Executive Stephen Hester.

"But I would be disappointed if there would not be the first steps toward privatization next year," he added.

RBS is still suffering and addressing aftermaths of the financial crisis. However, the company beat expectations with a return to profit in the first three months of the year. Now RBS is reversing a decade-long international expansion drive and has raised over $2.5 billion from exiting or selling over 20 businesses in the last 14 months.

The bank will leave all sectors, such as global retail banking, in which it cannot establish itself among the market leaders, Hester told the paper.

It is also selling some of the parts of Dutch Bank ABN Amro it bought in 2007, as the takeover was "clearly a big mistake," he said.

The strategy of the bank is paying off and it has gained new leeway to act, Hester said.