"India is set for strong growth in 2010" ; John Hourican, 39, Chief Executive of Global Banking and Markets (GBM), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), recently delivered his division's first profits since the 2008 global financial crisis left the bank reeling under losses.

John Hourican, 39, Chief Executive of Global Banking and Markets(GBM), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), recently delivered hisdivision's first profits since the 2008 global financial crisis leftthe bank reeling under losses. Excerpts from his interactions withBT's Anand Adhikari during his recent visit to India.

"The GBM performance-in the fixed income and equity businesses-was good in 2009. We have restructured all the aspects of ourbusiness to have a more focussed customer approach, and implementeda more stringent risk management framework in the business thanperhaps we had in the past. We have tightened our balance sheet, andalso have set a strategy around customer, product and geography.

I think the global environment will remain challenging in future.But when we look at Asia and India, in particular, there is asignificant promise. India is set for a strong growth in 2010. Wehave kicked off a rebranding exercise with the transition of ABNAMRO in India to the RBS brand. We have a diverse product basket tooffer with capital market solutions, hedging products and otheradvisory services that our customers need in these uncertain times.

We at RBS have chosen not to be in the commercial and retail sideof business outside UK, Ireland and US. This decision was a clinicaland appropriate one as we need to deploy our resources where we canbe meaningful to our customers."