Royal Bank of Scotland will continue to focus on its structured products and equity derivatives businesses following the review of its investment banking activities.

As reported by SRP.com last week, the UK's state-owned bank will not withdraw from the equity derivatives and structured products business, despite a considerable scaling back of its investment bank. "We remain firmly committed to our Investor Products and Equity Derivatives businesses," an RBS insider told SRP.com.

According to an RBS statement released yesterday, RBS is now looking for buyers for its cash equities, corporate broking, equity capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions businesses "which had income of £220m in the nine months to September 2011 and are currently unprofitable."

The bank is also considering the closure of those activities if a suitable buyer is not found: "We are in discussions with a number of potential buyers, though there is no assurance of a sale concluding," read the statement. "We took this decision because we want to prioritise our resources on those businesses where we are best with customers and can operate most profitably for shareholders."

According to the same inside source, RBS's structured products and equity derivatives businesses are successful "in their own right" and its global markets division will continue to house the Investor Products (Structured Retail) and Equity Derivatives businesses: "We intend to retain our leading investor products business internationally in equity and fixed income derivatives. This business is both profitable and provides valuable funding for RBS," he said.

RBS' statement stressed the bank has "a clear vision to be a leading international debt financing, transaction services and risk management bank, with a focus on our strengths in fixed income, loans, FX, risk management, transaction banking, investor products/ structured retail products and equity derivatives."

The bank said its structured products franchise is a "highly relevant and viable proposition capable of delivering sustainable returns."