Britain's RBS facing record banking loss: report

AFP, August, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — The Royal Bank of Scotland will this week unveil the biggest loss in the history of British banking due to a multi-billion-pound hit from the global credit crunch, The Sunday Times reported.

RBS, which announces interim earnings on Friday, was predicted to reveal a pre-tax loss of at least 1.0 billion pounds (1.27 billion euros, 1.97 billion dollars) for the first six months of the year.

Analysts also warned that Britain's second largest bank could face a loss of as much as 1.7 billion pounds, the weekly newspaper added without citing its sources.

Strains from the global squeeze on credit would cost RBS almost 6.0 billion pounds, it added.

Earlier this year, RBS clinched a record-breaking rights issue totalling 12.0 billion pounds to...