RBS poised to unveil £50m profit

ROYAL Bank of Scotland is set to reveal a boost for Chancellor Philip Hammond by reporting a small quarterly profit this week.

All of the major banks will deliver first-quarter figures, with RBS heading for a £50 million profit, compared with a loss of £968 million for the same period last year.

Hammond hinted last week he would look at selling more of the Government’s 73 per cent stake in the bank, even if it meant a big loss. ‘We must live in the real world and make decisions on the future of our holding in RBS in the best interest of taxpayers,’ he said.

Previously, he had insisted the Government would wait for the bank to resolve its issues with US sub-prime debt before selling more of its holding. It is on the hook for big fines from the US Department of Justice, but the negotiations over a possible fine have been delayed by the election of Donald Trump as President.

Meanwhile, the Treasury said on Friday that it had recouped all of the Government’s investment in Lloyds, with the remaining 1.5 per cent to be sold set to yield a small profit.

Lloyds boss Antonio HortaOsorio is set to defend the bank’s push into consumer credit this week, amid fears that banks are splurging on unsecured lending.

Lloyds sources said they believed much of the rise in consumer credit over the past year came from student loans rather than from credit cards, personal loans and other forms of riskier lending.