RBS share sale 8216 not for five years 8217

The government is delaying its sale of shares in RBS.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are not going to be sold by the UK government in the near future, it has been revealed.

In an interview published by the Sunday Telegraph yesterday (August 11th), business minister Vince Cable revealed that an RBS share sale is five years away.

Mr Cable stated that he does not think it is a sensible move to put a fixed timetable on the share of the sales, prompting speculation the bank will be broken up by the government.

He said: "Given where we start from I think it is pretty unrealistic to think of RBS going back into private ownership this Parliament or probably within five years."

The business minister argued that one of the reasons why RBS failed and had to be bailed out by the government was that it got "too big" and this proved to be its undoing.

RBS recently confirmed the arrival of Ross McEwan, the current head of the bank's retail arm, as its new chief executive. He replaces Stephen Hester and will take over the role from October.

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