Bank stays in Irish market under RBS

Ulster Bank is to remain in the Irish retail banking market, with its parent, Royal Bank of Scotland, describing it as a core part of its business.

However, RBS — which is creating an internal ‘bad bank’ in order to deal with nearly £38bn (€44.8bn) worth of troubled assets — added that Ulster’s cost base will need “substantial restructuring” if the bank is to remain “attractive”.

Ulster will transfer £9bn worth of non-core loans into the new vehicle, but RBS said the Irish bank’s cost-to-income ratio (61% in the first half of this year) would have been higher if the income from the £9bn of loans hadn’t been written in the first place.