RBS pushes ahead with disposals

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland pushed ahead with its disposal plans on Wednesday, selling its French factoring unit to GE Capital, a unit of General Electric, for an undisclosed sum.

RBS Factor had been tagged as a non-core asset over a year ago, when the bailed-out UK bank first outlined its turnaround plans, and RBS had since been seeking a buyer. The unit had gross assets of around 606 million euros at the end of December.

Wednesday's sale completes the disposal of the bank's factoring businesses across Europe, after it sold its German factoring unit to GE Capital earlier this year.

Factoring, long a form of business financing, typically involves a business owner selling accounts receivable to a third party at a discount, to raise capital.

RBS Factor is a top 10 provider of accounts receivable finance in France, processing more than three million invoices a year.