If Scotland Goes

Questions remain over bank stakes and solvency

By Patrick Jenkins and Mure Dickie

Scotland’s 1707 political union with England was a defining moment for its financial sector – it led to the creation of the Royal Bank of Scotland, an institution that would one day become one of the world’s biggest banks.

Three centuries on, victory for Scotland’s nationalists in September’s independence referendum could have equally far reaching consequences for RBS and the wider financial sector.

What would become of the UK government stakes in RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Bank of Scotland, is one of the many questions looming over Scotland’s large financial services sector ahead of the plebiscite. And with 90,000 people employed across Scottish banks, ...