RBS banks £4.5bn half-year report
NatWest owner Royal Bank of Scotland took the first-half profits haul from the UK’s five major banking groups to more than £19bn (€28.1bn) today.
The Edinburgh-based company, which owns the insurance brands Churchill and Direct Line, said it made profits of £4.51bn (€6.66bn) in the first six months of the year, an increase of 23% on a year earlier.
It added that the amount of money set aside to write off bad debts increased 5% to £847m (€1,250m), with the figure on the retail side up 19% to £680m (€1,004m), mainly as a result of losses on unsecured borrowing such as personal loans.
The group generates around 60% of its profits in the UK, with overseas operations including Charter One banking group in the United States.
