London-based Standard Chartered on Wednesday said it was keen on buying the assets of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are on

the block.

“The government has mandated RBS to sell its Asia assets. We have been approached by RBS for a buyout. We are very much interested in it, but we are yet to discuss valuations and other issues with RBS,” Jaspal Bindra, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered, Asia, told journalists on the sidelines of a press conference in New Delhi.

The British government holds a majority stake in RBS.

Asked about a time frame by when the RBS deal can be sealed, Bindra said the stake sale process would gain momentum over the next few weeks. “We want the process to be faster,” he said, adding that the G20 meeting and the Easter holidays have slightly delayed the process. A news agency report said RBS has already started talks with unions over restructuring of its back-office operations, which may lead to a cut of as many as 9,000 jobs globally over the next two years.

The restructuring is part of the lenders’s plan to reduce annual cost by $ 3.7 billion in the next three years.

RBS has made a loss of Rs 1.73 trillion for financial year 2008. Following the loss, the bank announced plans to sell its retail and commercial banking operations in Asia, including India. In India, RBS has 31 branches.