Operating profits before impairments at the wealth management division of UK-listed Royal Bank of Scotland – a unit including Coutts, the private bank – rose to £240 million ($402 million) in the first half of this year, a gain of 26 per cent from the same period a year ago.

The wealth unit includes Coutts & Co and Adam & Company, offshore banking group RBS International, NatWest Offshore and Isle of Man Bank, and international private banking at RBS Coutts.

The wealth division suffered £22 million of impairment losses, up from £5 million, RBS said in a statement.

For the group as a whole, RBS said it made a pre-tax profit of £15 million in the first six months of this year, swinging away from a loss of £726 million in the same period a year ago. The bank, however, said it suffered a loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of £1.042 billion, compared with a loss of £827 million.

RBS has been bailed out by the UK taxpayer after suffering massive losses in the credit crunch. Stephen Hester, its chief executive, has been undertaking a wide-ranging review of its business operations. Already, RBS has announced a number of asset disposals, including the sale of Asian banking assets to Australia-listed ANZ.

So far, the bank has given no indication, in public statements or in comments to WealthBriefing, that it intends to sell off its private banking operations.

Among further details of the wealth unit at RBS, the statement today said this unit made total income of £564 million from £522 million; total assets under management, minus customer deposits, stood at £29.8 billion, a fall of 14 per cent from the same six-month period in 2008. Deposits were £35.7 billion, compared with £36.1 billion, RBS said.

Customer numbers in the wealth division held steady, increasing by 1 per cent compared with June 2008 despite the significant shrinkage in the population of high net worth individuals, the banks said.

The bank had a core Tier 1 capital ratio – a key measure of a bank’s financial strength of 6.4 per cent in the first half of the year. The bank says it intends this ratio to reach 8 per cent by 2013.

Meanwhile, RBS said that Bruce Van Saun has been appointed as chief financial officer, taking up the post on 1 October. He previously was CFO at Bank of New York Mellon. RBS said his appointment completes the restructuring of the group’s senior management team. Mr Van Saun’s predecessor, Guy Whittaker, is retiring.