Yorkshire Bank group withdraws Williams & Glyn offer

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group has shelved a proposal to buy The Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail bank Williams & Glyn following an announcement yesterday.

RBS had been struggling to find a buyer for the SME-focused bank for seven years. It had received a number of offers including from CYBG following its own divestment from the National Australia Bank last year.

RBS announced yesterday that it had abandoned plans to sell off Williams & Glyn following the Government’s proposal for the state-owned bank to deliver initiatives worth around £750m to boost UK small business.

Now, CYBG has abandoned its bid for the Williams & Glyn operations.

It said in a statement this morning that its own medium term performance targets are based on organic business strategy rather than acquisitions.

It said: “Building on progress made since the demerger and IPO, CYBG continues to focus on and deliver against its strategy of sustainable customer growth, efficiency and capital optimisation, as outlined on Capital Markets Day in September 2016.

As previously stated, the board of CYBG will continue to evaluate potential inorganic opportunities to enhance its business in line with the company’s strategic objectives.”

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