Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and unit could charge clients negative interest rates if the cuts the baserate below zero, BBC News reported July 26.

In a letter to its nearly 1.3 million businessand commercial customers, the group said it may need to charge interest oncredit balance as "global interest rates remain at very low levels."Personal banking customers will not be affected, according to the BBC report.

If enacted, the move would make RBS andNatWest the first British banks to impose negative interest rates, the BBCnoted.

The BoE's base rate currently stands at arecord low 0.5%, unchanged since March 2009. Governor Mark Carney hadsaid in June that thebank would likely ease interest rates over the summer and perhaps implementother policies in response to the Brexit vote.