Coutts says goodbye to Cayman
Coutts, a private bank and a wealth manager with three centuries of experience, is saying goodbye to its presence in the Cayman Islands.
From Wikipedia: Coutts is one of the world’s oldest banks and is wholly owned by Royal Bank of Scotland Group (itself 84% owned by UK Financial Investments Limited, an investment arm of the British government). RBS acquired the Coutts business when it bought NatWest in 2000. Coutts then acquired Zurich-based Bank von Ernst & Cie in 2003 and in 2008, Coutts Bank von Ernst and other Coutts International subsidiaries became RBS Coutts Bank. These traded as RBS Coutts International to align them with the parent RBS Group until 2011, when RBS Coutts was renamed Coutts & Co. Limited.
Headquartered in London, Coutts is the Wealth division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, connecting with clients from over 40 offices in key financial centres in the UK, Switzerland, the Middle East and Asia.
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Coutts is also the Queen’s bank, and after withdrawing from the Cayman Islands will restructure its trust business in Jersey.
Over the past two years, Coutts has reduced the number of countries it serves from 170 to 70. A spokesperson for Coutts said the sale of its trust business in Cayman is consistent with last year’s sale of private banking assets, in terms of focusing on the bank’s footprint and core growth markets elsewhere.
The bank says it will issue a statement regarding the sale soon, and it is working with staff to support them through this transition.
In an article on Wealth Manager published June 4th 2013 Coutts said it was not for sale:
Coutts sale ‘not on the agenda’ says private bank’s international head
by Sarah Miloudi
Coutts is not up for sale despite a drive by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to slim down its balance sheet.
‘RBS is getting in better and better shape and won’t need to sell Coutts to raise capital,’ said Alexander Classen, the private bank’s head of international operations, as he addressed the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit.
The state-backed bank said in May that it had agreed plans with the UK’s regulators to build its capital cushion, and as part of its longer-term plans to shore up its balance sheet RBS has reduced the size of its investment banking arm and will sell down non-core assets and around 20% of its US arm Citizens.
But Classen stressed that all this activity did not mean Coutts was about to come on to the market.
‘The sale of Coutts is not on the agenda,’ he said.
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