RBS at the minute are going through a process of selling off some assets but UB north and south are not on the list. Whilst it is possible for the UK govt to order a sell off of UB, I would say it is probably very unlikely. The decision to close First Active is a common sense one, given that it is doing very little mortgage business and it makes little business sense to have 2 branches from the one bank (under different brands) a few doors apart. It should have been done years ago