Merrill Lynch is advising Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the highly acquisitive UK bank, on its latest deal, providing a boost to the adviser's financial institutions advisory team.

RBS will pay £1.1bn (€1.6bn) for Churchill, the insurance business being sold by Winterthur Group, the Swiss insurance company owned by Credit Suisse Group. Since 1995 RBS has been involved in more than 90 mergers and acquisitions deals, as well as disposals, according to data from Dealogic, the data provider.