The move is in line with RBS’ strategy to back off from some foreign markets in order to concentrate on retail and commercial banking in the UK.
RBS private banking unit’s onshore clients, staff and operations will be transferred to Sanctum by the end of first quarter of 2016, upon receiving certain regulatory approvals.
However, Sanctum would retain all branch networks currently operated by RBS private banking in India.
Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Based in India, Sanctum Wealth Management provides banking services since its inception this year.
Sanctum Wealth Management head Shiv Gupta was quoted by The Economic Times as saying: "There’s a lot of underlying value in the assets we hold.
"RBS has built a solid book since it took over from ABN Amro six years ago."
In the past few years, several foreign wealth managers have set up operations in the Indian market to benefit from the potential economic growth. These companies, however, struggled due to competition, high staff costs and weak markets.
Earlier in March this year, RBS announced the sale of British wealth manager Coutts’ overseas business to Switzerland’s Union Bancaire Privee.
Last year, RBS announced plans to shut down approximately 44 bank branches across the UK and Scotland, as part of its cost cutting drive.
RBS provides various banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, and corporate and institutional customers in the UK, the US, Europe, and internationally.
Image: A branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland at Angel, London. Photo: courtesy of David Edgar / Wikipedia.
