Fred Goodwin, Royal Bank of Scotland Group chief executive, said the bank was looking for further acquisitions, but would consider returning surplus capital to shareholders if nothing appropriate was found.
Goodwin said: "There is a lot of scope for acquisitions." But he added that the group would not overpay for an acquisition, as it does not depend on deals to sustain its future earnings.
His statement comes after the Royal Bank of Scotland posted full year results showing an 11% rise in pretax profit to £7.151bn.
