Shareholder group vows to carry on with £1bn RBS claim

A GROUP representing more than 27,000 retail investors is to press ahead with its compensation claim against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) despite reports the lender is looking to settle some outstanding cases.

The RBoS Shareholder Action Group said it will continue its £1.25 billion compensation claim on behalf of investors who lost money after subscribing to shares during the RBS rights issue in 2008.

The group claims former directors at the bank had misrepresented its underlying strength at the time and failed to include “critical information” in its prospectus.

The Edinburgh-based lender, which is 73 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is said to have held discussions with a group of institutional investors in a bid to settle a number of cases against the bank, Sky News reported.

A spokesman at the RBoS Shareholder Action Group said: “We note reports in the media that other shareholder group[s] may be close to settling their claims against RBS. We wish those claimants well, but today’s reports make no difference to our action group’s litigation against the bank.”

Former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin will be among the defendants when the trial is held at the High Court in London on March 6 next year.

Since the near-collapse of RBS in 2008, successive new bank leaders have made strenuous efforts to distance themselves from Goodwin.

They are understood to be uneasy about being co-defendants with disgraced former colleagues in the pooled litigation process now under way.

In May 2014, it was revealed Lloyds was suing RBS for £420 million as part of the wider “group litigation order” lawsuit, a move that led to disquiet at the Treasury, where staff were concerned at the prospect of a spat between the two taxpayer-owned banks.

However, Lloyds later withdrew its claim.

As well as retail investors, RBoS represents a number of UK local authority pension funds and financial institutions, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Abbey Life, Axa, Aberdeen Asset Management and Lloyd’s of London.

RBS declined to comment.