Financial Services > e-banking > Banking news
RBS Report Second Largest Ever Loss in UK Banking History

Fri, 08 Aug 2008

The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced a pre-tax loss of £691 million for the first six months of 2008. The loss is the second biggest loss ever in the UK banking industry, second only to Lloyds TSB’s mammoth loss of £715 million in 1989. The Natwest owned bank failed to recover from almost £6 billion of write downs as the credit crunch took its toll on many of the bank’s mortgages and assets . Although experts had forecast that RBS would reveal a much larger loss – twice as great according to some analysts – RBS Chief Executive Fred Goodwin was still reeling from what he called a ‘chastening experience’.

RBS have been painfully exposed to the credit crunch following their decision to invest in securities linked to the US sub-prime housing market, whilst their acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro has served to make matters worse for the bank. RBS’s write downs now total over £8 billion – more than £5 billion of which derives from credit market write downs. RBS been the sixth worst affected bank by the credit crunch.

As a result of their problems, RBS’s share price has more than halved in the last twelve months. They have, however, recently conducted the largest rights issue in UK corporate issue, selling £12 billion worth of shares .
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.

Save on your mortgage

Save on Your Mortgage

Save money on your mortgage? Fill out our quick mortgage enquiry form.

Health cover, life insurance and PMI

Health Insurance

Find Critical illness, Life and Private Medical Insurance PMI policies.

Simplyhealth Dental Plan
Affordable cover from only £7.50 per month. Join now and get first month FREE
Amex Cash Back
Credit Card
Get 5% cash back on purchases with Amex
Income Protection Insurance
Get an instant quote with the award winning company