RBS bosses defend massive cash call

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

EDINBURGH (AFP) — Bosses at Britain's second biggest bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, on Wednesday defended their decision to launch the country's biggest cash call as they met shareholders to explain themselves.

RBS chairman Tom McKillop told the group's annual general meeting here that banks as a whole had endured a difficult period in recent months because of the knock-on effects of the crisis in the US subprime mortgage sector.

But he said the company's appeal to shareholders for 12 billion pounds (15 billion euros, 24 billion dollars), announced Tuesday, was not taken lightly and it was in the company's best interests as it sought to raise funds to offset writedowns and its costly acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro.

RBS's performance into January and...