Egypt’s EFG Hermes has requested permission to start doing due diligence on the Pakistan assets on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

A spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan, the central bank, has confirmed that the Egyptian bank has made the request to do due diligence ahead of a potential offer for RBS Pakistan.

Another Pakistan bank, Faysal Bank, has also said it is looking to buy a majority stake in RBS Pakistan.

In March 2009 RBS announced that it was planning a $300bn sell off of assets to boost its balance sheet. Included in this was the banks Middle East operations (MEED 23:04:09).

In August last year a deal by Pakistan’s MCB bank to buy 99.37 per cent of RBS Pakistan collapsed after it failed to get regulatory approval. That deal was valued at around $87m.