The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
City expecting RBS to make further cuts
Britain’s biggest banks will reveal annual results this week amid fears of more job losses.
Aside from Edinburgh-headquartered RBS, all of the main lenders are expected to show solid profits, with surging stock markets helping those with investment banking operations.
RBS is likely to take the shine off progress elsewhere in the sector when it gives its update on Friday.
It will remain deep in the red for a ninth year and reports suggest CEO Ross McEwan will outline yet more cost cutting.
Analysts are expecting eye-watering annual losses of £6.1 billion, which would be one of the group’s biggest losses since its government bail-out.
The group revealed recently it had set aside another £3.1bn ahead of an expected fine from US authorities, which will be included in the bank’s results for the fourth quarter of 2016.
It had already sunk into the red by £2.5bn for the first nine months of 2016 and the provision will see full-year losses widen substantially, adding to the losses of more than £50bn seen in the past eight years.
It has been a difficult period for RBS, having failed Bank of England stress tests late in 2016 while also facing controversy over its treatment of struggling businesses and seeing Santander ditch talks to buy its Williams & Glyn network.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has said the Government does now not expect to offload its 72% stake until after 2020.
Fellow state-backed player Lloyds Banking Group is instead expected to finally be free of its taxpayer support this year.
On Wednesday, the group is expected to post pre-tax profits of £4.4bn, a sharp rise on 2015’s £1.64bn.
Thursday’s figures from Barclays will see CEO Jes Staley update on his plan set out a year ago to transform the bank.