Coutts, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s private banking arm, has increased the guideline amount of investable assets a new client needs from £500,000 (about $817,000) to £1 million, as part of its investment management services strategy in the UK.

A spokesperson for the bank maintained that the figure was a guideline and that other factors were taken into account but that the amount of investable assets needs to be closer to £1 million than to the half a million mark.

At the end of March this year RBS said it has plans to double the size of its wealth and private banking unit and bring its international unit under the centuries-old Coutts brand.

Rory Tapner, RBS's wealth chief since last August, is to embark on a series of changes to the division that involves a push to win new clients in the Middle East, eastern Europe and Asia with the international private bank, currently called RBS Coutts, also to become branded simply as Coutts.

As part of the refocus, Tapner said the London-headquartered bank will devote less time to pursuing lower-margin clients with less than £1 million or more than £75 million.