According to reports, the beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland is putting feelers out for potential buyers of its Asian businesses in a bid to shed some of its huge debt. Losses of at least £28 billion are expected to be announced on Thursday.

The bank is understood to have already discussed the sale of its Asian assets with ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Standard Chartered. The idea is to unpick Sir Goodwin’s international expansion and focus on core UK banking activities.

Assets for sale are to include a number of retail banks, wholesale banking operations and wealth management businesses. The problems RBS face are the lack of cash-rich buyers, the plethora of other financial institutions on the market already in Asia (CitiBank, AIG and General Electric are trying to offload their Asian businesses), and the low prices currently being paid for businesses in this sector.