Royal Bank of Scotland has lost ground after the collapse of a deal to sell its Indian operations to HSBC.
RBS agreed to dispose of its retail and commercial business in the country - which is profitable with 400,000 customers and assets of £190m - in 2010. But the two sides failed to reach agreement by a Friday deadline. HSBC said:
The long stop date of 30 November has been reached without all conditions required to close the transaction being satisfied.
HSBC remains committed to pursuing growth in India, a key strategic market for the group, through its existing operations.
On the future of the RBS business in India, the bank said:
Consistent with the strategy to reduce or exit non-core assets and businesses, [RBS] will begin to wind down its retail and commercial banking business in India, whilst meeting all customer obligations.
RBS has fallen 3.9p to 295.1p while HSBC is 7.6p higher at 639.2p.
This reflects the mixed performance of the sector, although investors seem to have shrugged off a Bank of England review suggesting UK banks could face a balance sheet shortfall of up to £60bn between them.
Lloyds Banking Group has dipped 0.165p to 46.475p but Barclays is 2.25p better at 246.85p.
