SANTANDER, Spain (EFE Dow Jones)--Banco Bilbao Vizcaya
Argentaria SA (BBVA) remains interested in growing in the U.S. and
Asia, and is less focused on the U.K. market, Chairman Francisco
Gonzalez said Monday.
"Our market is elsewhere," he said when asked during a
conference if the Spanish bank made a bid for the branches that the
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) has put up for sale.
However, he declined to comment on whether BBVA had filed a bid for
RBS's branches, saying bank policy isn't to comment on individual
deals.
Bids for the RBS assets are due later Monday, and BBVA had been
looking at it in recent months.
Banco Santander SA (STD) will likely be the only bank to file a
binding bid, the Financial Times reported Monday.
RBS, 83% controlled by the U.K. government, has put its U.K. and
Welsh branches up for sale together with its NatWest branches in
Scotland and some U.K. corporate accounts, as part of a divestment
process imposed by the European Union.
-By Pablo DomÃnguez, EFE Dow Jones, +34 914518269,
pablo.dominguez@dowjones.com