RBS Reports $1.3B Loss

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC took a loss of more than 690 million pounds ($1.32 billion) in the first half of the year due to massive, partially mortgage-related writedowns that were largely expected. The corporate parent of U.S. investment banking subsidiary RBS Greenwich Capital took 5.9 billion pounds ($11.3 billion) in writedowns during the period. While the writedown total roughly matched April estimates, the portion of it stemming from credit valuation adjustment exposure to monoline bond insurers was higher than expected, the company said. "The results we have published today demonstrate progress in a number of important areas, and it is all the more unsatisfactory, therefore, that they record a loss as a result of our credit market writedowns," said Fred Goodwin, the group's chief executive. "We are determined to ensure that the inherent strengths of the group's diverse business model are not obscured in this way again."