THE Royal Bank of Scotland has taken control of its dividend payments in a sign it is moving closer to privatisation.
The bank – 73 per cent owned by the taxpayer – has paid the Government £1.2 billion to end the Dividend Access Share scheme (DAS), which gave Her Majesty’s Treasury a priority over dividends.
The DAS was enforced by the Government in 2009 after the bank received a £45bn bailout in the wake of the financial crash.
The Government aims to sell its stake in RBS over the next five years, but was recently forced to delay plans to sell its 10 per cent stake in Lloyds Banking Group following increased market volatility.
Shares were down two per cent.
Group chief executive Ross McEwan said: “This is another important milestone in our plan to resume capital distributions to our shareholders, and represents one less hurdle in our path to build the number one bank for customer service, trust and advocacy.”
RBS racked up its eighth year in a row of annual losses when it announced its full-year results in February, posting a loss of £2bn, although this was down on the £3.5bn deficit a year earlier.
The bank said it has set aside £3.6bn in conduct charges. This includes £2.1bn to cover expected legal action on US residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as £600 million extra for payment protection insurance (PPI).
Since then, the bank has moved to cut costs, announcing earlier this month that it would slash 550 jobs.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here