Royal Bank of Scotland has applied for a German banking licence to help retain access to clients in the European Union after Britain departs the bloc.
The state-owned bank is to upgrade its current branch in Frankfurt with a new licensed unit.
RBS already has a banking licence in the Netherlands due to its 2007 takeover of Dutch lender ABN Amro.
But the new Frankfurt hub will be responsible for processing and settling euro-denominated payments, managing euro liquidity and offering loans to large German companies.
About a dozen jobs are expected to be created in the city.
The move will allow RBS to maintain infrastructure associated with the Bundesbank and continue to benefit from passporting rights that give financial services firms cross-border access to EU clients.
Banks and other financial services firm are expanding or setting up hubs in the EU cities in response to Brexit. Lloyds Banking Group is to set up three subsidiaries in Berlin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, while Barclays is expanding its Dublin office.
German lobby group Frankfurt Main Finance previously said that 800 billion euros (£711 billion) of assets are to move to Frankfurt. It said 30 out of 37 financial institutions which have applied to the European Central Bank for new licences, or to extend existing ones, have chosen the German city for their European headquarters.
RBS is 62% owned by the Government after it received a £45 billion taxpayer bailout a decade ago at the height of the financial crisis.
The bailout saw the bank rein in costs and transform into a smaller lender focused on the UK market.
Earlier in December, RBS announced it is to shift £13 billion worth of business to the Netherlands in the event of a disorderly Brexit.
About 30% of the customers for its investment banking unit, NatWest Markets, will move to the lender's new Dutch subsidiary by March 4.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel