Banking group 'planning joint bid for RBS branches'

The owner of the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks has held talks with Spain’s BBVA about working together on a deal to buy the £1.5bn (€1.76bn) network of 318 branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland, it was reported today.

National Australia Bank and BBVA are among the frontrunners for the RBS portfolio, which is also in the sights of Santander, the Spanish bank that has bought Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley.