Drop in earnings for RBS

Royal Bank of Scotland today reported more credit crunch pain and an 8% drop in underlying earnings so far this year as it outlined plans for its £20bn (€24.8bn) British government-backed rescue.

The troubled bank said full year figures would be impacted by rising bad debts and writedowns, which totalled £206m (€255m) in the third quarter, on top of £5.9bn (€7.3bn) in the first half.