The chief executive of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland says the bank has achieved some milestones in its recovery even though it made another loss during first quarter.
Chief Executive Stephen Hester said today that RBS would finish repaying 75 billion pounds ($121 billion) of government-backed loans this month, and that it has made progress in shedding non core businesses and reducing bad loan provisions.
For the three months to March 31, RBS reported a net loss of 1.52 billion pounds, nearly three times the 528 million pounds loss a year ago. Although RBS is paying off the government -backed loans, taxpayers still hold an 82 percent stake.
RBS shares rose 0.4 per cent at 24.64 pence in morning trading, short of the 50 pence break-even price on taxpayers’ 45.5 billion pounds bailout investment.
