Moody’s may downgrade Ulster, parent RBS

DUBLIN, Ireland – The global ratings agency Moody’s has said it might downgrade Ulster Bank and parent Royal Bank of Scotland, according to a July 6 article by Colm Kelpie in the Irish Independent.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is the parent company of RBS Citizens Financial Group, which is headquartered in Providence.
According to Dan Primack in the July 2 Term Sheet, his blog for Fortune Magazine, the Royal Bank of Scotland said it would lay off up to 1,800 people in its Ireland-based Ulster Bank Group by 2016, which includes the closure of 63 branches by the end of 2014.
In 2008, the British government pumped $71 billion into the Royal Bank of Scotland “to keep RBS afloat,” according to an Oct. 21, 2011, article in Dealbook, a financial news service produced by The New York Times.
RBS Citizens Financial Group has said it is planning a partial IPO in 2015 and in May announced the retirement of Chairman and CEO of RBS Citizens Financial Group Inc. Ellen Alemany, who is being replaced by RBS Group CFO Bruce Van Saun.
Changes set in motion by the Royal Bank of Scotland are being closely watched by the Rhode Island financial community amid speculation about the bank’s future. At stake locally is the state’s ability to maintain, or even add to, jobs as a result of the public offering of a 25 percent stake in RBS Citizens, which employs 5,400 in Rhode Island.