RBS starting to bank on full recovery

The return to operating profit of the Royal Bank of Scotland is good news, even though the chances of the Treasury selling its shares remains a long way off. The turnaround in the bank has taken a long time and even though it has reduced its international footprint from being in more than 50 countries to just the United Kingdom, Ireland and a handful of others, it still faces potentially years of work to make it fully fit for purpose again as a retail bank.

It also still faces significant regulatory hurdles in the United States and market analysts are not back in love fully with the brand.

Regardless of its past transgressions, the UK economy, and Scotland in particular, needs a strong RBS in the market.

Ordinary customers need to feel secure in dealing with the high street bank and businesses need to feel confident that one of the nation’s biggest lenders is on their side.

There is also the question of returning the bank’s shares to full private ownership and the public finances being repaid for bailing the bank out when it was saved from collpase in its darkest hour of need.

That will come in due course but the Chancellor should not be rushed into selling the government’s shares at anything less than break even.

The very least taxpayers expect, and deserve, is to get their money back.