Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc announced that Richard Griffiths, a managing director resigned after 14 months with the firm. Griffiths, 37, who headed the group that advised companies in industries from chemicals to construction in Asia, is the latest senior departure in the region for the Edinburgh-based bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland group Plc has received first-round bids from Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, BlackRock Inc., Henderson Group Plc, Schroders Plc and Neuberger Berman Inc. for its RBS Asset Management unit, according to a report in The Sunday Times. Morgan Stanley is advisor to RBS on the sale of the division, which is believed to be worth between £250 million and £300 million.

A founder of RBS WorldPay Inc. is interested in buying all of the business back from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) after European competition authorities told the RBS to sell it. RBS WorldPay could be valued at £1.5 billion. Nick Ogden, chairman and chief executive officer of Voice Commerce Group Ltd. said he had backing from up to three private equity companies to finance a deal. "Yesterday, we formally approached RBS to buy the business back from them," Ogden told Reuters. The interest had been passed on to UBS AG, who is supervising the sale, he said. Ed Uzialko told Reuters he wanted to buy the business back. RBS confirmed RBS WorldPay was one of the assets that it is looking at divesting, but refused to comment on the specific approach. UBS refused to comment. RBS WorldPay was valued at about £1.5 billion when it was touted to sellers in 2008, Ogden said. "We don't know if that's the correct figure today, clearly a lot of due diligence needs to be done," he said. Uzialko told Reuters that he was in the preliminary stages of putting together a bid to buy back the business and had spoken to private equity firms about backing and was in the process of engaging an investment bank. He had said in May that he was interested in acquiring it. Ogden said he expected other interest in the business, but was optimistic that his financial backing, knowledge of the firm and support from staff and customers would give him an advantage. Brussels has given RBS up to four years to sell its assets. RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester on Friday said on asset sales: "The telephones are ringing, but don't expect anything soon. You should expect it to take at least a year before the first of these businesses goes anywhere." Ogden said a rapid deal would be beneficial, including for RBS. "The reality is we're already being approached by many of their large customers, not through any predatory approach but because their customers are moving," he said. "Clearly the partnership with private equity companies is key to this (interest in RBS WorldPay)," he said.