Royal Bank of Scotland reports $53 billion loss

西关少爷

THE Royal Bank of Scotland today reported a net loss of £24.1 billion ($53 billion) in 2008, the largest annual shortfall ever recorded by a British company.

RBS, which is nearly 70-percent owned by the British state after a massive bailout, said it would sell off a large part of its assets, withdraw or reduce operations in 36 countries and re-focus its activities on the domestic market.

The beleaguered bank said the state had agreed to insure RBS "toxic'' assets worth £325 billion  ($713 billion) and would cover 90 percent of losses stemming from such holdings.

It suffered the losses after a catastrophic year when the financial crisis sparked by the failure of US bank Lehman Brothers brought it to the brink of collapse.

RBS was forced to write off £16.2 billion ($35 billion) on its disastrous acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro at the top of the market in 2007.

Reports have suggested that as many as 20,000 jobs could be cut.

steveking

英国会像冰岛那样国家破产吗

sweeet

反正现在银行都涨的很好