RBS puts Williams & Glyn sale process on pause

Royal Bank of Scotland has shelved negotiations to sell its Williams & Glyn subsidiary, according to reports, which will make it difficult to complete the sale by the end of 2017 as required by the European Commission.

Earlier this week, RBS was said to have put its marketing efforts for the smaller lender for the rest of the year, according to the Times.

But due to technical difficulties RBS has found in separating the Williams & Glyn business it has not yet been given a banking licence.

RBS has now dropped the sale negotiations, reported the Financial Times, citing bankers familiar with the process.

The chief reason RBS had failed to get a licence for W&G was because it did not have a robust technology platform, an anonymous banker told the paper, which meant "they don’t have anything to sell”.

Under state aid rules rules set by the EC over RBS's £45bn state bailout in 2008, RBS is supposed to carve out the consumer lender by the end of 2017.

Some industry observers have predicted that the Williams & Glyn name will "never appear on the high street because of IT issues and management problems", accordign to the Times.