ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC is within a rising trend. Continued positive development within the trend channel is indicated. The stock has broken up through the resistance at pence 50.00. A further rise to 100p (1) is predicted in the medium term. The stock is assessed as technically positive for the medium long term.

Good luck -

Investec Sell 316.30 323.90 290.00 290.00 Retains

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 316.30 323.90 415.00 415.00 Retains

Barclays Capital Overweight 316.30 323.90 330.00 330.00 Retains

Deutsche Bank Hold 316.30 323.90 325.00 300.00 Retains

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Buy 316.30 323.90 400.00 380.00 Reiterates

UBS Buy 316.30 323.90 410.00 410.00 Retains

Which one of those has friends in RBS or Barclays?

put a limit buy in at 310 and so i'm in now.,.

thought 310 good entry but not so today, creeping down to 303p and lower. Ah well.,.

King is getting clever just before he is due to leave. Wants to sell himself, I think. Talking Rubbish

The fall in Lloyds and RBS are associated with the lack of proper economic policy by the government!!!

Unfortunately, I hold both and losing a lot!! and regret it.

at the end of the day politicians do not add economic value, it is up to those directors at RBS and LLOY to show shareholders they are worth their fees and salaries.

RBS completes partial sale of DLG ordinary shares

RBS Completes Partial Sale of Direct Line Group Ordinary Shares

Further to the announcement by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc ("RBS") on 12 March 2013, RBS has completed the sale of 252.3 million ordinary shares in Direct Line Insurance Group plc ("Direct Line Group") at a price of £2.01 pence per share, raising gross proceeds of £507 million, assuming the over-allotment is exercised in full.

RBS now holds 726.9 million ordinary shares of Direct Line Group, representing 48.5% of the issued ordinary share capital. If the over-allotment option is not exercised, RBS's remaining stake will comprise 749.9 million shares, equivalent to 49.99% of Direct Line Group's issued ordinary share capital.

The sale marks the continuation of RBS's EU-mandated disposal strategy, with cash proceeds being used for general corporate purposes.

Bruce Van Saun, RBS Group Finance Director commented, "We are pleased with the performance of Direct Line Group since the IPO in October 2012. This sale is part of our ongoing delivery against EU commitments and will take our ownership below the 50% level. We continue to execute well against the key milestones in our recovery plan".

StockMarketWire.com
Barclays Capital has downgraded its recommendation on Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) to "equal weight" from "overweight" in a wider UK Banks research note to investors. The City broker has lowered its target price by 9 per cent to 300 pence a share (previously 330 pence). Shares in RBS have fallen in value by around 12 per cent in the past month. In the same note, Barclays Capital retained an "underweight" rating and 40 pence price target on Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY). Broker Forecasts consensus data shows that only 9 per cent of brokers continue to rate RBS as a "buy" stock with 39 per cent rating the shares as a "sell".

oh dear, can't see lloyds going back to 40p but might be wrong......usually am.,.

What do you expect Barclays to say about their competitors!

They are just (mis) leading. Minimal effect on RBS.

Liberum Capital Buy 305.60 293.60 - 340.00 Upgrades

my buy at 295p won't be to bad then.,.

Goldman Sachs Neutral 299.65 293.30 340.00 360.00 Upgrades

Final Results - RBS Holdings N.V.

Deutsche Bank Hold 292.30 295.00 295.00 Retains

Morgan Stanley Equal weight 292.30 - 340.00 Retains

Results this thursday.
SocGen with the preview:
"We expect core underlying profit of £1.8bn offset by £0.6bn non-core losses for a group underlying profit of £1.2bn (no consensus available). We retain our Hold recommendation; while RBS trades more cheaply than other UK banks, we believe that its core business is less well placed than others, and its low quality assets are not as well marked as at Lloyds and Barclays.
We believe that capital will be scrutinised on results day. The PRA recently suggested that beyond capital actions already planned for this year, UK banks have an aggregate capital deficit of around £12bn. The FT reported that £6bn of this relates to RBS, and we eagerly await management’s official response. Non-Core is a key part of the capital equation, and we expect asset shrinkage of £5.8bn to cut the remaining balance to £52bn. For RBS Core, we will be watching for some signs of improvement in Ulster; although only a small division, its effect last year was to cut Core’s RoE from 12% to 10%."

Friday should be interesting!

Interim Management Statement pt 1

Highlights

Successful rebuild of financial strength

· RBS's Core Tier 1 ratio strengthened by 50 basis points to 10.8%, largely driven by the continuing reduction in Non-Core and Markets risk-weighted assets.

· On a fully loaded Basel III basis, the Group's Core Tier 1 ratio improved by 50 basis points to 8.2%.

· Non-Core funded assets were reduced by £6 billion at constant exchange rates to £53 billion and the division is on track to hit its target of £40 billion by the end of 2013.

· Continuing deposit inflows improved the loan:deposit ratio to 99%, and our liquidity pool of £158 billion covered short-term wholesale funding of £43 billion by 3.7 times.

· Risk elements in lending fell by 2% at constant exchange rates and provision coverage was further strengthened in Non-Core and Ulster Bank. The Group charge for loan impairments fell 20% versus prior year.

· Credit trends in Ireland are turning a corner, with Ulster Bank Core and Non-Core impairment losses down 27% from Q1 2012 and 29% from Q4 2012.

· Tangible net asset value per share increased 3% to 459p from 446p at 31 December 2012.

Operating performance is resilient

· Group pre-tax profit was £826 million, £577 million excluding own credit adjustments, compared with a loss of £2,227 million in Q4 2012. Group operating profit(1) was £829 million, up 50% from Q4 2012, driven by a reduction in Non-Core losses.

· Profit attributable to shareholders was £393 million, or £194 million excluding the impact of own credit adjustments.

· Core operating profit of £1,334 million compares with £1,495 million in Q4 2012 and £1,639 million in Q1 2012. Retail & Commercial profits were up 12% from Q1 2012 to £1,010 million, with Ulster Bank posting a material improvement. Markets showed a seasonal increase versus Q4 2012 to £278 million, though down significantly relative to the prior year's strong first quarter.

· Non-Core operating losses of £505 million were 46% lower than in Q4 2012, driven by a further reduction in impairments.

Highlights (continued)

Good progress in business restructuring

· The sale of a further tranche of Direct Line Group shares in March took the Group's stake below 50%, in line with the European Commission (EC) state aid agreement.

· The Group continues to work towards a full separation and initial public offering of its branch-based business that is mandated for disposal by the EC. The business is profitable and well-funded, and we continue to have discussions with potential investors in the business. We anticipate re-branding this business under the Williams & Glyn's name.

· As indicated in the Group's 2012 annual results announcement, the Markets business is being restructured with a 2014 target of reducing risk-weighted assets to £80 billion, on a Basel III basis. Our intention is to sustain the business's core strengths in fixed income products while focusing on serving our corporate and investor clients well.

Continuing commitment to customers

· RBS is committed to serving its customers well. Right across our business this is our top priority, to sustain and to improve what we do.

· Core lending to SMEs(2) rose 1% from Q4 2012 to £34 billion, while the wider market remained flat. UK residential mortgage lending remained broadly stable at £110.2 billion. UK Retail mortgage balances stand 33% above 2008 levels, although Q1 2013 volumes were affected by extensive staff retraining.

· During Q1 2013 RBS has been pleased to offer over £1.5 billion of discounted loans to SMEs and more than £327 million of mortgages to homebuyers in association with the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). Given its very strong liquidity position, RBS has had no need to draw on this public funding during the quarter.

· During the quarter RBS offered more than £13 billion of loans and facilities to UK businesses, including £8 billion to SMEs, and renewed nearly £7 billion of overdrafts, of which £2 billion was for SMEs.

· The average interest rate charged on RBS's SME loans was 3.88% in Q1 2013, down from 3.93% in the prior quarter and from 4.14% in Q1 2012.

· The Group has maintained broadly stable market shares across its major customer franchises. Net Promoter Scores improved slightly in Q1 2013 in a number of key areas.

· Efforts to simplify processes and improve customer experience continue; changes to the current account opening process are being piloted that have so far significantly reduced account opening times.

Highlights (continued)

Outlook

RBS expects continued good progress on all 'safety and soundness' measures including a fully loaded Basel III Core Tier 1 ratio of around 9% by the end of 2013.

The Bank has strong ability to fund lending growth as customer demand grows.

Operating results in Retail and Commercial banking are expected to be resilient with modest improvement in net interest margin, cost reduction and improving impairment trends. Income is likely to mirror customer activity levels.

Markets-related income remains difficult to predict but we expect a muted year overall as the business transitions towards its revised steady-state shape and size.

We expect to deliver Group operating costs (excluding Direct Line Group) below market consensus expectations of c.£13.2 billion this year, with further meaningful cost reductions in 2014 and 2015.