Leith Robertson, head of leveraged finance at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), is to take on more responsibility and head a new structured finance division at the bank. In addition to his leveraged finance business, Robertson is taking on a raft of departments, including project and export finance and real estate.

RBS's real estate finance team recently organised a jumbo £1.25bn (€2bn) sale and leaseback deal to help Nomura Principal Finance Group's £1.9bn purchase of Le Meridien, the UK hotel group. The technique is becoming more widely used.