RBS reports record British loss
27-02-2009
The Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a net loss of 24.1 billion pounds in 2008, the largest shortfall ever recorded by a British company. RBS, which is nearly 70-percent owned by the British government after a massive bailout, said it would sell off a large part of its assets to re-focus its activities on the domestic market. It added that the state had agreed to insure RBS "toxic" assets worth 325 billion pounds, and would cover 90 percent of losses stemming from such holdings. The beleaguered bank suffered the losses after a catastrophic year when the financial crisis sparked by the failure of US bank Lehman Brothers brought it to the brink of collapse. RBS was forced to write off 16.2 billion pounds on its disastrous acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro at the top of the market in 2007. Chairman Philip Hampton blamed "unprecedented turbulence" in the financial markets for the results. "We owe our continued independence to the UK government and taxpayers and are very thankful for their support," he said.
