Why TD Bank Might Not Buy Citizens Bank

The Philadelphia Business Journal is skeptical of  rumors suggesting TD Bank may buy Citizens Bank, offering five reasons why a deal might not get done.

High among those reasons: Citizens’ current owner, Royal Bank of Scotland, seems to be doing OK with the U.S. bank in its fold even though it’s under pressure from UK regulators to divest. “RBS said in February that it would sell between 20 percent and 25 percent of Citizens within the next two years via an initial public offering. New Citizens CEO Bruce Van Saun told the Pittsburgh Business Times last week that the bank is aiming for a fourth-quarter 2014 IPO. Citizens is actually a money maker for RBS. So unless U.K. banking regulators really tighten the screws, the British banking giant is not likely to sell its entire U.S. retail franchise, at least right away.”

Odds of the sale happening? According to the expert consulted by the Journal, about 50-50.