Record loss of £691m for Royal Bank of Scotland

Royal Bank of Scotland has made history today announcing one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history. RBS reported a pre-tax loss of almost £700 million in the first six months, after writing down £5.9 billion on investments caused by the credit crunch. The bank has not fallen into the red for 40 years.

Amidst the doom and gloom of the figures, the results were better than expected, the bank had estimated of a £1 billion to £1.7 billion loss. A far cry from the 3 percent billion profit they made in the first six months of 2007.

When looking at RBS’s underlying profits which is when you do not include one-offs such as write downs, was £5.1 billion, down 3 percent.

The bank’s chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, talked of how a pre-tax loss is something he and his colleagues regret, and how he is determined to keep the inherent strengths of the group’s diverse business model as strong as ever.

Goodwin said there was always pressure to deliver good results and this pressure intensified when trading is tough. But he stressed that the current team was best placed to take the group through the turmoil.

RBS also announced £1.6 billion in impairment losses for bad debts, double the losses for the first half of 2007.

Source: timesonline

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