Royal Bank of Scotland to split bank in two

Royal Bank of Scotland, which is the parent company of Ulster Bank, is to separate its retail operations from its higher-risk businesses in a major overhaul to meet new ring-fencing rules in the UK, which also means the RBS brand will only be used in Scotland.

Ring-fencing aims to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, when banks’ bad bets threatened ordinary depositors’ cash, leading to big taxpayer-funded bailouts.

The rules apply to all banks in Britain that have both retail and commercial or investment banking activities.