Scotland's Salmond eyes wealth management

By Avril Ormsby

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Wealth management could become more important for Scotland, bolstering the country's key financial sector, First Minister Alex Salmond believes.

Despite the problems of the bailed-out banks, where thousands of jobs have been shed, the sector's other two pillars, insurance and investment management, are doing well, he told Reuters in an interview.

Speaking after Royal Bank of Scotland this week secured another 25.5 billion pounds from the government, he said he was certain RBS would pay off the public investment given time and opportunity.

The banking crisis and recession had not undermined his case for independence, the head of the Scottish National Party (SNP) said, because Scotland had come through the recession with lower unemployment and higher economic activity than the whole of the United Kingdom.

"I think we would have, like any other country in western Europe, gone into recession: I think our prospects for rapid recovery would have been better," Salmond said, pointing to the country's diverse economy and lower corporate tax rates.

Salmond said he also saw Scotland becoming a personal finance centre after Tesco and Virgin invested in the region during the past year.

But it was wealth management that offered a "good opening" for Scotland's financial sector, building on its existing strength in corporate, pension fund and investment trust management.

"We have never really specialised until very recently in wealth management in Scotland," he added.