- "We are in uncharted territory if we don’t actually sell the assets through an asset sale this year," says Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE:RBS) CEO Ross McEwan, warning the bank may not be able to unload its Williams & Glyn unit.
- His comments come after Santander last week reportedly dropped out of talks to buy the operation over objections to the price.
- To review, RBS must sell Williams & Glyn as a condition of its financial crisis bailout. Santander nearly purchased several years ago, but technical difficulties - the operation has 2M retail and business customers and 300 branches which needed to be separated from RBS's systems - scuttled the deal.
- McEwan says RBS is looking at "alternative options," but doesn't give details.
- The ADRs are lower by 2.6% premarket.