Royal Bank of Scotland, whose private banking entity in Singapore reported mass resignations by 70 employees recently, will continue to hire aggressively for its investment banking business in China, a top executive told China Daily during a recent interview.

John Hourican, chief executive of RBS' Global Banking and Markets operations, said the bank would try to attract and retain talent in China and stick to its stated goal of becoming a top-five banking entity in the country.

"Our proposition is that we will attract the best talent in our core markets and pay competitively so that they can generate returns that satisfy our shareholders' needs," the 39-year-old banker said during a recent trip to Beijing.