Emirates NBD Interested in RBS’ U.A.E. Retail Assets, CFO Says

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Emirates NBD PJSC, the United Arab Emirates biggest lender by assets, is considering plans to buy the retail banking assets of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in the country, Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Uppal said.

RBS branches, its automated teller machine network and wealth management clients complement Emirates NBD’s retail banking system, Uppal said in a phone interview in Dubai today. “We are interested in looking at that asset,” he said.

RBS, the U.K.’s largest government-owned lender, expects to announce a buyer for its consumer banking unit in the U.A.E. by April or May, Simon Penney, chief executive officer for the Middle East and Africa, said March 4. The Edinburgh-based lender is selling assets as part of a global plan announced in February last year to exit some businesses including in Asia.