Romania among bits and pieces RBS picked up in Europe

Romania is among the bits and pieces in Europe that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) took over from Dutch ABN Amro group, yet the growth of the business is good, says Sir Fred Goodwin, CEO of the British giant. “Romania and Russia are two very small businesses for us in Europe and the Middle East, which accounts for quite a small part of the our operations, so I will not dwell on this subject. There is a more interesting business in the United Arab Emirates, but that is also relatively small,” says the head of the RBS, commenting for the first time on the takeover by the British group of the Bucharest-based ABN Amro branch. RBS led the syndicate that also comprised Fortis and Banco Santander, which paid 72 billion euros to take over ABN Amro. Sir Goodwin said that RBS had 22 branches in Romania, which serve about 74,000 customers, while revenues in 2007 increased by 124%, which is the highest growth on the markets that make up Europe&Middle East for RBS – Ireland, UAE, Romania, Russia and Kazakhstan, without including consumer finance operations.