RBS hit by writedowns

Royal Bank of Scotland has announced its first loss in 40 years, and although it is one of the biggest losses in British corporate history it is not as bad as financial analysts were expecting.

In the first-half it lost 876 million euros due to an almost 7.5 billion euro writedown on risky assets.

Britain’s second-biggest bank said it is hoping to sell its insurance division, but even it that does not happen it will have enough capital.

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