RBS reports third-quarter loss

Royal Bank of Scotland swung to a loss in the third quarter, as it took a hit from litigation and restructuring costs.

The bank reported a loss attributable to shareholders of £469m compared to a profit of £940m in the same period last year, when it made a £1.15bn gain on the sale of its US bank Citizens. The loss included a £469m restructuring cost – mostly related to its attempts to sell Williams & Glyn – £425m of litigation and conduct costs and a £300m deferred tax asset impairment.

RBS said adjusted operating profit came in at £1.3bn, up from £1.1bn the year before and beating company-compiled consensus of £734m.

The bank’s common Tier 1 equity capital ratio rose to 15% from 14.5% at the end of June and its net interest margin, which is the difference between income from lending and the cost of funding, dropped to 2.17% from 2.21%.

The bank also said on Friday that it will miss an end of 2017 deadline to sell its Williams & Glyn branch network, which was one of the conditions of its 2008 state rescue.

Chief executive Ross McEwan said: “We’ve said that 2015 and 2016 would be noisy as we work through legacy issues and transform this bank for customers. These results reflect that noise. Our core business results were good with a £1.3bn adjusted operating profit, our best quarter since 2014. The core business has now delivered on average over £1bn in adjusted operating profit for the last seven quarters.”