Royal Bank of Scotland reduced its commercial property exposure by 14% last year, largely as a result of runoff and sales in its non-core division.
In its 2011 results, the part-nationalised bank said that its commercial real estate lending portfolio totalled £74.8bn at 31 December 2011. Its UK real estate exposure fell from £49bn to £42bn.
Of the total, around 46%, or £34.3bn, was classed as non-core – that is, loans that RBS wants to get rid of by 2013. Around £11bn of this is UK loans, down from £17bn in 2010.
During the year, RBS said it extended the maturity of £700m of loans in its non-core division, but was essentially closed to new customers, with new lending limited to refinancing and existing customers.
In its non-core division the bank took £2.3bn of losses – down from £2.6bn in 2010 – with the commercial real estate sector accounting for 93% of this impairment.
