RBS capitulates on project finance, levfin

Royal Bank of Scotland is to shut down its leveraged and project finance lending operations, two of the areas in which the bank had previously been a market leader. RBS’s business restructuring, details of which were revealed alongside the £24.1bn loss in the bank’s full year results today, confirmed widespread fears among project finance and leveraged specialists in Europe that these markets are in for further pain as former heavyweights — and big providers of underwriting commitments and capital — start to signal their complete withdrawal.