RBS in US deal

Bankers at Royal Bank of Scotland admitted they were selling “total f****** garbage” to investors and made light of destroying the housing market in the run-up to the financial crisis, documents released by US authorities show.

The quotes were published by the US Department of Justice after announcing it had finalised a $4.9 billion (£3.8bn) settlement with RBS over the mis-selling of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) between 2005-8. RMBS were home loans bundled together as tradeable assets that helped spark the financial crash.

RBS chief executive Ross Mcewan said: “There is no place for the sort of unacceptable behaviour alleged by the DOJ at the bank we are building today.”