Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,884.73
    +74.07 (+0.37%)
     
  • AIM

    743.26
    +1.15 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1709
    +0.0015 (+0.13%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2638
    +0.0016 (+0.12%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    55,296.42
    -1,094.23 (-1.94%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,205.81
    +1.00 (+0.01%)
     

Government-backed RBS reports almost £7bn loss for 2016

RBS has lost more than £50bn since it received a £45bn bail out from taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis: Reuters
RBS has lost more than £50bn since it received a £45bn bail out from taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis: Reuters

The Royal Bank of Scotland has posted a £6.96bn loss for 2016, a sharp rise from the £2.7bn recorded in the previous year.

The bank which is 72 per cent owned by the Government has been hit by £6.7bn in conduct and legal costs including a £3.1bn provision for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities in the US. It also spent £2bn on restructuring its operations.

RBS has lost more £50bn since it received a £45bn bailout from taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis.

The bank said it would cut £750m of annual operating costs this year by eliminating jobs and closing branches and predicted it would return to profitability in 2018.

ADVERTISEMENT

Chief executive Ross McEwan said: “The bottom-line loss we have reported today is, of course, disappointing but, given the scale of the legacy issues we worked through in 2016, it should not come as a surprise.

“These costs are a stark reminder of what happens to a bank when things go wrong and you lose focus on the customer, as this bank did before the financial crisis.”

RBS is in the midst of a vast restructuring programme, including asset sales and thousands of job cuts. The bank confirmed it has abandoned plans to sell off its Williams & Glyn business.

Mr McEwan’s plan to lower the bank’s cost-to-income ratio, a key measure of profitability, to below 50 per cent by 2020 was blown off course after the Bank of England cut interest rates last year.

Several major banks reported full-year earnings his week with Lloyds reporting its best profits in a decade. Barclays almost tripled its pre-tax profits in 2016 from a year earlier, while HSBC’s slumped 62 per cent over the same period.