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 -

Hester stepping down, Lots of goodies in his.. I'm off bag.

13th Jun..... Credit Suisse 265.00 Underperform

13th Jun.... Berenberg 190.00 Sell

Perhaps Hester's departure would clear the way to break up the bank and create more competition on the high street, separating RBS from Natwest would be a start.

Ulster Bank: Up to 1,800 jobs to go in cost-cutting move.

Investec Buy 299.90 310.00 320.00 Reiterates

FCA fines RBS bank 5.6 million pounds

LONDON | Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:24am BST
(Reuters) - The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Royal Bank of Scotland 5.6 million pounds for incorrectly or not reporting at all transactions it made in the wholesale market.

The FCA said on Wednesday the bank failed to properly report 44.8 million transactions between November 2007 and February 2013, and failed altogether to report 804,000 transactions between November 2007 and February 2012.

This represents just over a third of relevant transactions by the bank over these periods and the FCA said many of the problems with RBS' systems were compounded by its takeover of ABN Amro in October 2007.

Interim Results - Part 1 of 7

Interim Results - Part 2 of 7

Interim Results - Part 3 of 7

Interim Results - Part 4 of 7

Interim Results - Part 5 of 7

Interim Results - Part 6 of 7

Interim Results - Part 7 of 7

Royal Bank of Scotland names Ross McEwan as new CEO

Royal Bank of Scotland reports £1.37bn H1 pretax profit

2 August 2013 | 07:09am
StockMarketWire.com - Royal Bank of Scotland reported a pretax profit of £1.374bn in the first half-year to end-June. Group operating profit was of £1.678bn, up 5% from H1 2012. Core Tier 1 ratio was up to 11.1%, or 8.7% on a fully loaded basis.

H1 2013 net attributable profit of £535 million, after a loss of £2,032 million in H1 2012

Stephen Hester, Group CEO, said: "RBS Group has earned its first two consecutive quarters of overall profit since 2008. We report first half pre-tax profits totalling £1,374 million. The results of our successful restructuring continue to show benefits - capital strength and liquidity up, balance sheet, Non-Core assets and Non-Core/Irish losses all down, again. The business challenges ahead lie principally in improving future operating trends and sustaining the focus and consistency needed to make further progress. RBS can be a "really good bank" for customers and shareholders. That is our goal."

Highlights

Delivery of business plan continues to build financial strength

· RBS further improved its capital strength through continued delivery against its established business plan, with the Core Tier 1 ratio increasing to 11.1%, or 8.7% on a fully loaded Basel III basis. · The Group remains confident of achieving a fully loaded Basel III Core Tier 1 ratio of over 9% by the end of 2013, which incorporates the capital needed to fund targeted loan growth. · The CRR leverage ratio improved to 3.4%. · Liquidity metrics remained very strong, with a liquidity portfolio maintained at £158 billion, short-term wholesale funding of £37 billion and a loan:deposit ratio of 96%. Customer deposits now exceed net loans in our Core businesses by £51 billion, giving a strong platform to respond to customer growth as it occurs. . Funded assets fell to £843 billion, down £86 billion from 30 June 2012, with Non-Core assets down £27 billion to £45 billion. · Credit quality continued to improve, with H1 2013 impairments down 15% from the prior year in Core and 24% in Non-Core. Credit trends in Ireland showed further encouraging signs, with Ulster Bank Core and Non-Core impairments in Q2 2013 down 6% from Q1 2013 and 12% from Q2 2012. Arrears formation on the mortgage portfolio continued to slow. · Tangible net asset value at 30 June 2013 was 445p per share, compared with 446p per share at 31 December 2012. Operating performance is resilient

· Group operating profit(1) was £1,678 million in H1 2013, up 5% from H1 2012. After one-off and other items amounting to a net charge of £304 million, Group pre-tax profit was £1,374 million, compared with a loss of £1,682 million in H1 2012. · Profit attributable to shareholders was £535 million, compared with a loss of £2,032 million in H1 2012. Excluding own credit adjustments, attributable profit was £250 million in H1 2013. · Core operating profit of £2,464 million was down 17% from H1 2012, driven largely by the significant reduction in Markets income as the division managed down the scale and capital intensity of its balance sheet. Retail & Commercial operating profits were down 4%, with improved operating results in UK Retail and reduced losses in Ulster Bank, but weaker performance in International Banking. UK Corporate results improved in the second quarter. . Non-Core losses were 42% lower at £786 million in H1 2013 as impairment losses diminished further and the division continued to cut expenses. Good progress in business restructuring

· After a comprehensive review, a new strategy for the Markets division was announced in June. The new strategy will enable RBS to concentrate on its core customers' needs in those areas where the Markets business is strongest. This means focusing on our core fixed income capabilities across rates, foreign exchange, asset-backed products, credit and debt capital markets, while de-emphasising some more capital intensive structured product areas. Markets is on track to reduce its risk-weighted assets to £80 billion on a Basel III basis by the end of 2014, despite significant regulatory uplifts to risk weightings. RBS is still dealing with the costs of past conduct issues. Non-operating charges for legal actions and regulatory investigations totalled £620 million in H1 2013, including a further £185 million provision for the costs of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) redress, taking the cumulative PPI charges to £2.4 billion.

· In the first half of 2013 RBS offered £26.7 billion of loans and facilities to UK businesses, of which £15.6 billion were to SMEs. In addition, the Group renewed £12.9 billion of UK business overdrafts, including £3.3 billion to SMEs. In Q2 2013, the £7.8 billion of loans and other facilities, including asset and invoice finance, was 6% higher than in Q2 2012.

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Sell 318.85 320.00 320.00 Reiterates

Investec Hold 318.85 340.00 340.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Equal weight 318.85 314.00 332.00 Retains

RBS branch bidders push for speedy deal, promise growth

LONDON | Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:54am BST
(Reuters) - Two of the three bidders short-listed to buy 315 bank branches from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) have called for the long-running sale process to be completed as quickly as possible, with one describing the outlets as "slightly neglected" under their current ownership.

RBS was ordered to sell the UK branches as a condition of its 2008 taxpayer bailout, which left the bank 81 percent state-owned. A 1.65-billion-pound ($2.59 billion) sale of the branches to Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) collapsed in October 2012, triggering a fresh sale process that has been plagued by delays.

Carney says uncertainty about RBS' future must end

LONDON | Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:17am BST
(Reuters) - Britain should end uncertainty over long-term plans for state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank Governor Mark Carney said in a newspaper interview.

Carney also told the Daily Mail it would be "a challenging task" to avoid a new credit or house price bubble but he was ready to head off any risk.

The newspaper said he gave what could be seen as a veiled warning to the government over its moves to boost the housing market, saying heading off problems "would be difficult to achieve if there were a host of government policies or other events that are pushing in the other direction."

UBS note out today:
"At the beginning of October, the new CEO (Ross McEwan) and new CFO (Nathan Bostock) will take up their roles, replacing the management team who have overseen RBS's successful restructuring over the last 3-4 years. Around the same time, George Osborne, the UK Chancellor, is likely to announce the outcome of a Treasury review on whether RBS should be the subject of further restructuring into "good" and "bad" banks – our view is clear: such a plan would have made good sense in 2008 but has little relevance to the RBS of today where the fundamental problems lie in the core operations (Markets, Ulster and US) rather than the residual legacy assets.
The UK Government has a large balance sheet. If it wanted to use this to accelerate the rehabilitation of RBS and create value for all stakeholders, we could see logic in spinning the core UK business to RBS's "A" shareholders while retaining the Irish/US and legacy assets which would be run down over time to repay the Government "B" shares. Moreover recent press reports of a “modest” bad bank seem to potentially offer the least favourable outcome – small enough to ensure that the overall market perception of RBS is largely unchanged but large enough to represent political interference and to probably require state aid scrutiny from Brussels.
While we like the idea of investing in a self-help story with improving fundamentals under a new "business focussed" management team, we think RBS's valuation is up with events and with political uncertainty still remaining, there are likely to be better entry points for the stock.
Our fair value for RBS is 365p which is based on an end-2014E valuation based on a Gordon growth model. The stock is trading at 0.8x tangible book value with RoE likely to remain depressed in 2013E and 2014E as the group completes its restructuring and deals with the remainder of non-core assets. We cut our rating from Buy to Neutral.

2+ year high @380.60p

Take your pick :-

Credit Suisse Underperform 359.75 366.50 265.00 265.00 Reiterates

Numis Add 359.75 366.50 410.00 410.00 Downgrades

Citigroup Sell 359.75 366.50 270.00 270.00 Reiterates

Galvan Research Buy 359.10 366.50 385.00 385.00 Reiterates

Multi year high just gone @381.50p

Exclusive: RBS expected to name Morgan Stanley to lead Citizens IPO - sources

NEW YORK | Thu Oct 24, 2013 6:09pm BST
(Reuters) - British bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) is expected to name Morgan Stanley (MS.N) as the lead underwriter for a proposed initial public offering of its U.S. subsidiary, Citizens Financial Group Inc, according to people familiar with the matter.

RBS, under pressure from British regulators to bolster its capital and sell off non-core assets, said in February that it would sell 20 percent to 25 percent of Citizens by the end of 2014 through an initial public offering in New York. [ID:nL6N0BO2NT] Sources have told Reuters RBS would be keen to proceed with an IPO more quickly if market conditions are right.

skin is this a short ahead of results?

Yeah go for it Halifax.

Short it if its going up and buy it if its going down .... keep fishing you might get a bite one day ... or something right.

Interim Management Statement - Part 1 of 2

Interim Management Statement - Part 2 of 2

Highlights

RBS announces actions to accelerate capital strengthening and enhance strategic focus
Full review of bank to improve customer service reporting February 2014
Q3 2013 pre-tax loss £634 million, after £496 million accounting charge for improved own credit
Core Tier 1 ratio up to 11.6%, or 9.1% on a fully loaded Basel III basis



Highlights

Restoring financial strength

● RBS announces management actions to accelerate the building of its capital strength and to enhance its strategic focus on its core UK businesses and its international corporate capabilities.

● The measures will include the creation of an internal "bad bank" to manage the run-down of high risk assets projected to be £38 billion by the end of 2013. The goal is to remove 55-70% of these assets over the next two years. While there is inevitable uncertainty associated with running down such assets, there is a clear aspiration to remove all these assets from the balance sheet in three years.

● Faster run-down of high risk assets is expected to entail accelerated and increased impairments in Q4 2013 of £4.0 billion to £4.5 billion but the capital impact of this will be neutralised by a commensurate reduction in expected loss capital deductions. The net impact on the current Core Tier 1 ratio is expected to be a reduction of c.10 basis points. However, the new strategy will result in a strengthening of the Group's capital ratios in the medium term.

● In light of a changing regulatory landscape and other capital headwinds RBS will target a Core Tier 1 ratio of c.11% on a fully loaded Basel III basis by the end of 2015, 200 basis points higher than the current position, rising to 12% or beyond by the end of 2016.

● The Group will accelerate the divestment of Citizens, the Group's US banking subsidiary. A partial initial public offering is now planned for 2014 and the Group intends to fully divest the business by the end of 2016.

● RBS's capital strength improved in Q3 2013 as the Group delivered a Core Tier 1 ratio of 11.6%. On a fully loaded Basel III basis Core Tier 1 ratio was 9.1%, up from 8.7% at 30 June 2013.

Sharpening our customer focus
● To capture the full potential of its customer businesses RBS is undertaking a comprehensive business review of its:

○ Customer-facing businesses

○ IT and operations

○ Organisational and decision-making structures


● The review will aim to improve the bank's performance and effectiveness in serving its customers, shareholders and wider stakeholders. The results of the review will be announced in February 2014 alongside the 2013 annual results. This will include detailed plans to realign the Group's cost base, with a cost:income percentage target in the mid 50s, down from 65% currently.

Highlights

Q3 2013 operating results
● Q3 2013 Core operating profit of £1,283 million was 6% higher than the prior quarter, driven by continuing reductions in impairment losses in Retail & Commercial and an improvement in Markets operating profits. Core operating profit was down 14% from Q3 2012, driven by ongoing strategic contraction of the Markets business, with income down 9% and costs down 4%. Core return on equity was 7.7%.

● Non-Core operating losses of £845 million compared with losses of £281 million in the prior quarter and £586 million in Q3 2012, reflecting exit and restructuring costs as the division saw accelerated disposals and asset run-off, and higher impairment losses.

● Group operating profit(1) was £438 million in Q3 2013, compared with £931 million in Q2 2013 and £909 million in Q3 2012. After one-off items totalling £576 million, including £99 million of regulatory provisions and an additional charge of £250 million for Payment Protection Insurance redress, a pre-tax loss of £138 million was recorded, excluding own credit adjustments.

● Own credit adjustments represented a charge of £496 million, reflecting the strengthening of Group's credit profile during the quarter. After these and a tax charge of £81 million (including a £197 million charge relating to the UK corporation tax change) and preference and other dividends of £102 million, the Group reported a loss attributable to ordinary and B shareholders of £828 million.

● Tangible net asset value at 30 September 2013 was 431 pence per share, with foreign exchange movements accounting for 12 pence of the 14 pence fall since 30 June 2013.

● RBS maintained its strong track record of running off legacy assets, with Non-Core's funded balance sheet down £8 billion to £37 billion, hitting its year-end target three months ahead of schedule. The reshaping of the Markets business also made strong progress, with funded assets down £20 billion to £248 billion and RWAs down £14 billion to £73 billion.

Serving our customers
● UK Retail made good progress in the UK mortgage market, with applications up 14% in Q3 2013 from the prior quarter to £6.4 billion and net new lending of £607 million representing the strongest quarterly performance since 2010. Mortgage balances remained strong at £99 billion.

· RBS and NatWest were first to make mortgages available to customers with smaller deposits under the second phase of the UK Government's Help To Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, with strong demand evident in the early days of the scheme's operation.

· During Q3 2013 UK Retail has simplified pricing on its savings accounts and launched Cashback Plus, which rewards current account holders for using their debit cards in selected retailers.

· The detailed recommendations of Sir Andrew Large's independent review of RBS's lending to SMEs will be addressed in the Group's comprehensive business review, due in February 2014.

· UK Business & Commercial has received a positive response to 10,000 letters sent to advise customers of its appetite to lend to them if they should wish to increase their borrowing or take out new credit. Over £3.8 billion of funding had been offered through these statements of appetite by the end of Q3 2013.

· In Q3 2013 RBS offered more than £15.0 billion of loans and facilities to UK businesses, of which £7.7 billion was to SMEs. In addition, the Group renewed £7.3 billion of UK business overdrafts, including £1.5 billion to SMEs.

· There have been continuing signs of improving credit demand, with Q3 2013 SME loan and overdraft applications up 6% from Q2 2013.

Highlights

Serving our customers (continued)
· RBS continues to support the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). Net lending within the scope of the extended FLS was £273 million in Q3 2013, despite £1,240 million of run-off in Non-Core and commercial real estate portfolios. This compares with a reduction in net lending of £2,793 million in Q2 2013.

· In Q3 2013 Markets helped UK corporates raise £2.4 billion, by acting as bookrunner for debt capital market issues, including £1.0 billion sterling bonds, meeting UK customers' needs in both domestic and international markets.


Outlook
We see signs that the UK economic recovery is gaining traction and have observed higher levels of activity and confidence among our customers. Nevertheless, we expect a continued muted performance from our core businesses in the short term, due primarily to the continued effects of low interest rates, excess liquidity, a smaller balance sheet, and lower securities gains from our liquidity portfolio. We expect Markets performance in Q4 2013 to reflect normal seasonal trends. Our strategic review will start to drive cost reductions and improve efficiencies from our core businesses during 2014 but will take two to three years to embed.

We expect margins to be stable or slightly up, our underlying cost base to be at c.£13 billion for 2013 (excluding penalties and fines). Non-Core is forecast to be below £35 billion of funded assets, well ahead of our recent guidance. Whilst timings are uncertain, conduct and litigation charges are expected to continue as we work through the remaining outstanding issues.

In light of the new strategy to deal with our high risk assets we expect a significant increase in impairments in Q4 2013 which is likely to result in the Group reporting a substantial loss for the full year. The effect on the Group's Core Tier 1 ratio is however anticipated to be minimal.