While the fragility of the UK s economic recovery along with concerns over rising inflation continue to trouble Scotland s companies, keeping them cautious about growth prospects, there are a good many positives to take from the present state of affairs. as Eddie Rintoul, managing director, corporate and institutional banking at Royal Bank of Scotland notes, there have been far fewer business failures in Scotland than had been feared, and companies generally are in good shape.  The larger businesses in Scotland generally have come through the recession with their balance sheets looking in very reasonable order,  he says. In particular, companies have both the finances to achieve accelerated growth through acquisitions and they also have the appetite for it   news which will be welcomed by Scotland s corporate advisory community.  as Rintoul points out, in a recent survey of Scottish businesses with turnover in excess of ?25 million, over one-third said that they were planning to grow through acquisitions before the end of 2011.  But so far, as we edge ever-closer to the end of the first half of 2011, continued weakness in the recovery in the UK in general and in Scotland in particular has kept many companies suspended in wait-and-see mode.  according to Rintoul, RBS itself is now very much back on track after its well-publicised difficulties, and is meeting and exceeding all the milestones set out by the RBS board.  We are ahead of target so far in 2011 and I believe we will continue to make solid progress through the rest of this year and beyond,  he says.  The troubles of the two major Scottish banks, RBS and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), created space in all areas of the market for other banks and new players to enter the Scottish market. In particular, the sale by RBS of its seven National Westminster branches in Scotland  (the 311 NatWest branches in England and Wales remain with RBS) to Santander has extended the Spanish bank s platform in Scotland, one  it already has from its takeover of alliance & Leicester.  Other banks such as the Co-op and Clydesdale are all extending their presence and trying to win business at the larger end of the scale even as they look to grow their presence in the SME market.  Rintoul hails this as a good thing for Scotland s businesses.  Scotland needs a healthy, competitive and vibrant banking sector if the economy is going to achieve its potential,  he points out.  Competition in the banking sector keeps everyone on their toes and helps both businesses and the banks themselves. as and when larger deals get going again in Scotland, a thriving corporate banking market will make it much easier for syndicated loans to be put together to support larger deals.  as Rintoul notes, RBS is comfortable taking the whole of the senior lending side of a deal in excess of ?50m if it has a high level of confidence in the management team and the company s strategy and track record. Nevertheless, the bank likes to see other banks coming in on the larger deal sizes. It spreads the risk and helps to generate confidence.  Rintoul says he is optimistic about the prospects for 2011, but warns that the market also has to be realistic. There are at least three hurdles that have to be overcome during 2011 en route to stronger growth. These are the  triple whammy  made up of January s VaT rise, continued increases in fuel costs and the austerity measures introduced by the coming public-sector cuts.  all of this adds up to consumers having much less surplus spending money and that impacts business at all levels,  he says. The continuing ramifications of the European sovereign debt crisis, with its ability to destabilise markets, is another problem for companies since anything that adds uncertainty to the already-difficult economic climate is bad news.  Nevertheless, RBS has been expanding in Scotland, with a number of appointments recently.  We are on track and very much open for business,  Rintoul says.  Paul Frame, head of the Glasgow branch of Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, says he is particularly pleased with the fact that the bank s high-net-worth clients are in  a pretty positive situation . Clients were generally not overleveraged when the global downturn took hold in 2008 and they have come out of the financial crisis in very good shape. There are now plenty of opportunities for us to help them to grow their wealth through the recovery period,  he says.  In particular, Deutsche Bank is looking to play a major role in Scotland in supporting the