RBS reports £1.5bn loss for first half

State-backed lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said today it had made a loss of £1.5bn in the first half of this year, after taking a near £3bn writedown on the value of its own debt.

RBS, 83%-owned by the UK taxpayer, revealed the pre-tax loss was almost double the £794m loss seen in 2011, after the bank took a huge hit on the valuation of its debt to the tune of £2.97bn. The full loss attributable to shareholders of £1.99bn, worse than the £1.43bn seen last year. The bank also saw its income dip, although only marginally, in the face of the eurozone crisis and the global slowdown, from £14.5bn last year to £13.2bn. Excluding the writedowns, the group said core operating profit had also dipped from £1.97bn to £1.83bn. The bank is involved in the LIBOR scanda...