Royal Bank of Scotland boss Ross McEwan has poured cold water on the idea of moving headquarters from Edinburgh to London if Scots vote for independence.
But Mr McEwan, who replaced Stephen Hester as the troubled group’s chief executive in October, said yesterday RBS would have to “adapt”.
Playing down comments from Business Minister Vince Cable, who said it was inevitable the bank would relocate in the event of a Yes vote in the referendum, Mr McEwan said: “Mr Cable and I have not talked about moving our head office.”
He added: “It’s really important that the Scottish people get the opportunity to vote. If I need to adapt my business to serve England, Scotland, Wales and both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, then I will.”
Mr McEwan’s comments came amid reports that Chancellor Gorge Osborne was about to rule out an independent Scotland entering into a formal currency union with the rest of the UK.
RBS and other Scottish financial institutions have reportedly begun contingency planning in the event of a vote for independence. It is thought a key part of their contingency planning is focused on what they will do in the event of a currency union not being agreed, and one option could be to relocate their headquarters.
RBS and Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life declined to comment.
Mr Cable has said a more stable financial system south of the border could tempt firms away from Scotland.
He added: “If you were managing RBS, you would almost certainly want to be in a domicile where your bank is protected against the risk of collapse.
“They already have a substantial amount of their management in London and I would have thought that, inevitably, they would become a London bank.”
Mr McEwan also said yesterday that RBS would pay bonuses to help retain its top bankers, despite analysts expecting the bank to report losses of up to £8billion for 2013.
That would make it six years in a row of annual losses for the group, which reports its 2013 figures later this month.