Pressure from the Financial Services Authority has forced the Royal Bank of Scotland to look into selling on its American retail arm, called Citizens.

Expectations are on the Rhodes based lender being placed on the market by next week, with an announcement coming this Thursday alongside RBS’ 2012 results, as the FSA puts pressure on the bank to refocus on UK operations.

The 2012 results announced on Thursday, with the expected announcement of Citizens selling, are expected to show losses of between £4 billion and £5 billion.