Royal Bank of Scotland reports £691 million loss

Aug 8 2008 By Greig Cameron

Credit crunch writedowns of £5.9 billion hit bank

Royal Bank of Scotland has reported its first loss in 40 years as a public company.

The group suffered pre-tax losses of £691 million for the six months to June 30 after writing down £5.9 billion linked to the credit crunch

In the same period last year RBS had profits of £5 billion.

Chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin said: "The first half of 2008 has been as difficult an operating environment as we have encountered for some time, presenting both general and specific challenges to RBS.

"The results we have published demonstrate progress in a number of important areas, and it is all the more unsatisfactory, therefore, that they record a loss as a result of our credit market write-downs.

"We are determined to ensure that the inherent strengths of the Group's diverse business model are not obscured in this way again."

Goodwin also refused to rule out further writedowns and added: "It would be a brave person that would forecast these to the end of the year."