RBS reportedly offering better terms ahead of rights issue trial

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has offered to pay millions of pounds more to shareholders suing it over the 2008 rights issue which preceded its collapse into government control, Sky News reported citing unnamed sources.

Lawyers acting for the bank have in the last fortnight proposed a 43.5p-per-share settlement with the RBoS Shareholder Action Group - the last-remaining claimant seeking redress over its £12bn cash call, the report added.

The proposal would represent an increased cost to RBS of several million pounds, according to analysts - and is marginally higher than the 41.5p-per-share settlement reached by the bank with four other claimant groups in recent months.

One source cited in the report suggested that the improvement of the settlement offer by 2p-per-share was designed to cover the Action Group's higher legal fees since the resolution of the earlier claims.

Sky News revealed earlier this month that RBS had accelerated talks about a legal settlement with the Action Group, which counts 27,000 former RBS shareholders among its members.

The judge overseeing the case has asked the remaining claimants to disclose further details of their funding amid concerns that they would be unable to cover legal expenses if they lose the case.

Former chief executive Fred Goodwin, along with Sir Tom McKillop, the former RBS chairman, are named alongside the state-backed bank as defendants in the case.

RBS had to be propped up with £45.5bn of taxpayer cash to stop it from collapse. The government still holds more than 70% of the bank.