Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc caught the interest of its rivals. The competitors eyed RBS' defined retail merchandises and equity derivatives trade. RBS was a British moneylender that was currently scaling back its investment bank next to being bailed out. The information came from sources familiar with the matter.

BNP Paribas SA, Commerzbank AG and Societe Generale SA were considering offers for some or the entire corporation. Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. would also look at parts of the business, two of the sources said.

Derivatives were a kind of security. Its price was directly proportional to its underlying assets like stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies.

Last month, RBS, Britain's largest state-owned lender, declared that it decided to exit all structured retail investor products and equity derivatives. Under the administration of Stephen Hester, RBS cut its balance sheet by about GBP900 billion pounds or US$1.4 trillion.

RBS said it earned GBP340 million in the first quartile. The profits came from its rates and investor products enterprise, which included equity derivatives. The earnings was compared to GBP333 million in the former period.

The stock of RBS increased by 2% and was up 1.1$ at 273 pence by 8:02 a.m. in London trading today.