 has posted its first profits in ten years, in "a really symbolic moment," for the bank.){kind=link}
Royal Bank of Scotland (LON: RBS) has posted its first profits in ten years, in “a really symbolic moment,” for the bank.
Compared to its £6.95 billion loss in 2016, the group reported a £752 million profit last year – indicating that they are “putting the past behind us.”
“RBS was the largest bank in the world ten years ago, with a balance sheet of £2.2 trillion, and it spectacularly fell from grace,” said Ross McEwan, the chief executive.
“We’ve been restructuring the bank, but it’s taken time and a lot of cost to come out of countries and businesses we didn’t want to be in.”
Still 71 percent owned by the government, RBS is still facing potential fines from the US’s Department of Justice following the sale of financial products that were linked to risky mortgages. The fines are likely to impact their future profits.
“We have been constantly hit with the sins of the past with conduct and litigation issues and I’ve been heavily restructuring the business to bring it back to the UK,” said McEwan.
Following the bank’s bailout, it has spent the past decade restructuring.
“We’ve been restructuring the bank to being a really good UK/Republic of Ireland business,” McEwan said. “It’s taken time but it’s also taken a lot of cost to come out of countries and businesses that we just didn’t want to be in.”
“We are now operating in 12 countries as opposed to what was 38, so very focused on the UK.”
Despite the positive results, RBS remained the biggest faller of the FTSE 100. In early trading, shares fell four percent after results missed expectations.
The bank is desperately trying to rebuild its reputation after a series of scandals. Just this week, several MPs said RBS’s treatment of small firms was “disgraceful”.