RBS will leave Scotland if voters back independence

[Divernan]

5. Tremendous uncertainty re rights to North Sea Oil,membership in NATO/EU/UN, currency, etc.

Salmond promises a vote for independence will be financially beneficial to Scots - but even in the best case scenario, there will be tremendous disruption for years, and while Scotland may gain more benefit from North Sea oil, that income is variable depending upon many factors. The UK has promised to devolve more powers to the Scottish parliament if there is a NO vote (i.e., independence is rejected).

In any case, after all these years and years of debate upon the subject, it will be great to have the question decided by popular vote, and most interesting to see how a YES vote, if that is the outcome, plays out. I've spent some time in Edinburgh and the Scottish highlands - love the country and wish it the best.
(More from the OP link)

One housing industry insider said there has already been an impact on the housing market, with signs that the market for homes worth more than £600,000 – the top end of the market in Scotland – is drying up. At the same time, commercial property deals were being put on hold until the vote was known – and could be abandoned in the event of a yes vote.

Some potential property buyers have inserted clauses into their offers saying "subject to a no vote", according to the mortgage broker Ray Boulger of John Charcol. He said: "A yes vote will create massive problems in terms of how mortgages are denominated and regulated. We expect it to be much more difficult for Scottish borrowers to get mortgages post a yes vote."

Other bankers are speaking of a pause in lending until the situation is clear. Lenders are refusing to comment publicly for fear of being accused of playing politics. But one said: "Before that poll [the Sunday Times/YouGov poll that showed the yes campaign in the lead] it was interesting but not critical. Now we are watching things very, very closely. It – introduces huge uncertainty and one way of decreasing our exposure and risk would be to reduce the loan-to-value offered to borrowers."

For one example, defense/military bases:

Defence is not one of the powers devolved to the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh; it remains a reserved responsibility of the UK government. This means defence spending and priorities are under the control of Westminster, as is the operation of Scottish bases and the use of Scottish seas for military purposes.

Most controversially, so too is Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, home to the UK’s four Vanguard-class submarines – that is, Trident, the four submarines, plus missiles and warheads, that act as the UK’s nuclear deterrent. The recent British Social Attitudes survey showed that opposition to nuclear weapons among Scottish voters outweighs support by 46% to 37% (in England and Wales it is 43% in favour, 36% opposed).

Defence is a big employer in Scotland. According to the quarterly location statistics for April 2014, published by the Ministry of Defence, there were 14,510 MoD personnel based in Scotland, 7.5% of the UK’s total, of whom 10,600 were military (4,210 navy; 3,690 army; 2,700 air force) and 3,910 civilian. The MoD says that by 2020 the number of personnel in Scotland is due to increase to 12,500 (8.8% of the UK total), though overall numbers across the UK are decreasing.

The Clyde naval base at Argyll and Bute – which also includes a large separate high-security nuclear warhead facility at Coulport nearby – is Scotland’s biggest employment site, according to the MoD. Currently around £140m a year is spent on Scotland’s defence estate, which includes Clyde as well as military sites in Leuchars, Kinloss, Lossiemouth, Fort George, Royal Marines Condor near Arbroath, and the Hebrides Range.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/sep/04/scottish-independence-scotland-defence-trident

And re currency:
The future of the currency is of crucial importance. George Osborne, the Conservative chancellor, and spokesmen for the two other main parties have recently said that full currency union would not be acceptable in the wake of a yes vote for independence. The SNP has said that it would be in the interest not only of Scotland but also of the rest of the UK, especially as it would avoid transaction costs on trade. But retaining full currency integration with only one central bank would require Scotland and the rest of the UK to be jointly responsible for debt in both countries. Scotland is too small to bail out the rest of the UK in a crisis, while ministers in the rest of the UK could not be expected to bail out Scotland, if that imposed any burden on their taxpayers.

It seems more likely that Scotland would have to have its own currency, which could be pegged to sterling, and its own central bank as lender of last resort. A separate currency, however, could be damaging to the important Scottish financial sector, which depends on its client base in the rest of the UK for most of its business. With more than 100,000 employees, it is one of the most valued parts of the modern Scottish economy.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/11/north-sea-oil-independent-scotland-economy-revenue