The Royal Bank of Scotland has posted a £968m net loss for the first quarter of the year as it has been burdened by the costs of paying back the government for the bailout during the financial crisis.
The taxpayer-owned bank made a net loss of £968m in Q1, more than double the £459m loss posted a year ago, according to its latest set of results.
The news comes just a day after the beleaguered bank cast doubts over its plans to resume dividend payments, as it warned it may miss its EU deadline to offload 300 branches of Williams & Glyn due to the escalating costs of the transaction.
The disposal of this consumer division remains one of the key roadblocks in the way of the bank resuming its dividend payments.
The bank said the spin-out costs were escalating past the £1.2bn mark it previously expected and may prevent it from meeting the deadline for the transaction, which has already been extended to 10 December 2017.
Shares in RBS fell nearly 5% yesterday following the announcement; they have since recovered, trading at 248.8p, but this remains 19% lower year to date and well below the 502p threshold needed for taxpayers to break even on their stakes.
In March, the bank paid £1.2bn to remove an instrument ensuring the UK government receives dividend payouts before any other investor, put in place as part of the bailout package.
