What would Scottish independence mean for banks?

With Scots facing an upcoming vote on whether to stay in the UK, The Banker has looked at how banking assets might be split if Scotland votes yes to independence in the September 2014 referendum.

Currently, UK banking assets total $9876bn, roughly four times the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, if Scotland left and became responsible for Scottish-headquartered banks such as RBS, HBOS and Clydesdale, it would have banking assets of 12 times Scottish GDP (1216%). This would be even larger than the banking assets of 10 times GDP that proved so ruinous for Iceland. The rump of the UK would see its banking assets fall to 3.25 times GDP, so it would benefit from Scotland’s departure. These calculations include all assets held by banks, so for RBS this means considerable assets related to non-Scottish operations.