UK government holding back on sale of more RBS shares, reports say

The British government is reportedly considering waiting to sell more Royal Bank of Scotland shares until next year after UK lenders reported weaker-than-expected third quarter earnings. withholding

RBS posted a third-quarter loss on Friday, falling short of analysts’ forecasts and undermining the Treasury’s plans to cut its 72.8% stake further, Bloomberg cited a person familiar with the matter as saying.

With banks ranging from ABN Amro Bank NV, Credit Suisse Group AG and Standard Chartered Plc tapping investors for cash and earnings across European lenders battered by rising costs, a sale was put on hold until 2016, the person said.

Chancellor George Osborne is looking to sell more RBS shares after it raised £2.1bn in August in its first disposal since the bailout.

Also on Wednesday, reports suggested RBS has been accused of using secret, flawed documents that could have influenced some compensation payouts to victims of the interest rate swaps mis-selling scandal.

Secret documents seen by The Times provided by the bank to “independent reviewers” who oversaw redress payouts to victims included a “record” of a sales call that never took place.

They also included potentially misleading bank sales literature and an allegedly bogus email.

Other customers of the bank allege that RBS produced records.

At 1445 GMT, RBS shares were up 2.4% at 329.30p.