RBS considers £3bn-£4bn share issue - papers

Royal Bank of Scotland is to consider a £3bn-£4bn share issue to reduce the stake it would hand to the government for joining its toxic assets insurance scheme and has approached its biggest investors about the idea, the FT reports.

Plans are "tentative" and Stephen Hester, RBS's chief executive, is still "putting out feelers" to its shareholders about a "modest-sized" share issue, according to a person familiar with the situation. Such a decision would see RBS join Lloyds Banking Group in scrambling to raise capital to limit the use of what banks involved in the government's new asset protection scheme view as a costly "bad bank" programme. RBS is due to issue about £19bn of non-voting B shares to the government as a fee for putting £325bn of toxic assets into the bad bank. That would increase the government'...