The British government’s sale of its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) has been delayed by at least two years after the UK voted to leave the EU, according to chief executive Ross McEwan.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group and the UK government have agreed to scrap the state’s rights to preferential dividends, paving the way for the bank to return capital to shareholders as early as next year.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group CEO Ross McEwan said he wants the UK bank to buy back shares to help reduce the government’s stake.

Russia’s central bank may pick up where it left off earlier this year to avert another run on the ruble.

Economic growth in the UK probably accelerated in the second quarter, as consumers sustained a recovery that’s pushing Bank of England policy makers to consider the first rate increase in eight years.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of many prospective bidders that have shown an interest in buying Granite, a £13bn (€18.3bn) mortgage securitisation vehicle earmarked for sale by the UK government.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group suspended bonuses of 18 traders as part of a review of foreign-exchange business in the wake of a $634m (€521.25m) fine.

Lloyds Banking Group has set aside an extra £900m (€1.1m) for mis-sold insurance.

The eurozone recovery failed to gather momentum last quarter, as France unexpectedly stalled and economies from Italy to the Netherlands shrank.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, has hired Ewen Stevenson from Credit Suisse Group as chief financial officer.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group is weighing up the sale of over €400m of Irish hotel assets.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group CEO Ross McEwan moved to reassure staff that there will be “no big announcement” on job cuts when the lender publishes the results of its strategic review next week.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group has channelled the equivalent of almost a third of its £45.5bn (€53.6bn) government rescue into bailing out Ulster Bank after property loans soured.

Independent News & Media is expected to report on progress being made on its debt restructuring efforts next month.

As Irish bonds extend their rally, the gains for investors may be disguising a different story.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Britain’s biggest taxpayer-owned lender, is being investigated by the Federal Reserve and Justice Department for potentially violating sanctions against Iran.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Britain’s largest state-controlled lender, may need to set aside additional provisions to cover rising mortgage losses at Ulster Bank over the next two years, according to Espirito Santo Investment Bank.

The head of Ulster Bank in Ireland has claimed the 100,000 customers frozen out of their accounts for more than a week will not flee the under-fire firm.

More than 100,000 people caught up in the Ulster Bank crisis could be in line for compensation once the scandal is resolved.

THE European Central Bank’s move to buy Italian and Spanish bonds to tame the region’s debt crisis marks a step toward the kind of fiscal union that Germany has opposed since the founding of the single currency.

London: British Prime Minister David Cameron left for China yesterday at the head of the largest ever British trade delegation as he tries to show off his new policy of business-focused diplomacy.

London: The owners of the Citigroup tower in London’s Canary Wharf are reportedly looking to sell the building for more than £1bn (€1.15bn) to pay back debt, according to a report in the Financial Times.

IRISH Life & Permanent, the country’s biggest life assurer and mortgage lender, is in talks to hire four banks, including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, to underwrite a rights offering, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

London: British chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling will scale back his estimate for the cost of bailing out Britain’s banks to no more than £10 billion (€10.99bn) from £50bn, Treasury officials said.

ULSTER Bank chief executive Cormac McCarthy has stressed that the company remains a core part of parent group Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), despite the Irish bank posting operating losses of £85 million (€97m) for the third quarter of the year.

ULSTER Bank has received a fourth capital injection inside eight months, with its parent the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) pumping a further €500m into the bank.

THE National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) will consider buying loans from Irish units of foreign-owned banks under the country’s “bad bank” scheme, the Department of Finance said yesterday.

ULSTER Bank chief executive Cormac McCarthy reiterated yesterday that the bank is in safe hands, despite its parent company posting record losses and Ulster Bank itself showing a 72% fall in operating profits to €147 million for 2008.

ROYAL Bank of Scotland Group, the owner of Ulster Bank, and Lloyds, is facing nationalisation as the deteriorating British economy continues to push it deeper into the mire.

AIB advanced yesterday on a mixed day on the markets which saw Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanent shares fall.

The Six Nations will be sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group for a further four years, it was announced today.

World stock markets were mixed today as banking stocks on both sides of the Atlantic took another pounding.

JetBird, an Irish company planning a private jet service in Europe, said it sold €10 million of share capital to an unidentified Middle Eastern investor, boosting the startup’s value to more than €100m.

Halifax ended a turbulent week for the mortgage market today with the announcement that it was repricing its mortgage range.

ULSTER BANK is ceasing its sponsorship of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award due to SEC rules regarding auditor independence arising from RBS Group’s acquisition of ABN AMRO.

Supermarket giant Tesco today announced plans to launch a new website to help people shop around for car insurance.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group today became the latest bank to launch a mobile phone banking service for its customers.