RBS reveals losses of £24.1 billion
Thursday 26th February 2009, 8:36AM GMT.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has revealed annual losses totalling £24.1 billion, the worst in British corporate history.
The bank, nearly 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer, unveiled losses of £7.9 billion and writedowns of £16.2 billion, including badly-performing assets that formed part of the ill-advised ABN Amro takeover.
RBS said it planned to put £325 billion worth of toxic assets into the government’s Asset Protection Scheme.
Stephen Hester, the bank’s chief executive, is set to cut costs at the group by £2.5 billion over the next two years, which could lead to significant job losses.
“We are charting a path to standalone strength and with it the goal of justifying the support of the UK government and all our shareholders,” he said.
“We are, of course, in a privileged position to be able to restructure the group with support from the UK government. With that privilege come responsibilities that we mean to fulfil. We have many difficult decisions ahead of us and continued and major uncertainties in our markets.
“How we do business will be as important as the business we do as we navigate our way through these challenges. Everyone at RBS is now focused on the drive toward recovery.”
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