RBS profits up 9 percent
Royal Bank of Scotland, the second-biggest bank which last year led a takeover of ABN AMRO, reported a 9 percent rise in underlying profit, in line with expectations, and lifted its dividend by 10 percent.
Bank of England in no rush to cut ratesRBS on Thursday raised its writedown on assets tarnished by the impact of the U.S. subprime housing crisis and credit crunch to 2.13 billion pounds, including ABN's wholesale banking business.
The bank had previously flagged a writedown of 1.25 billion pounds through to the end of November, which included a 250 million pound gain on the carrying value of debt held on the balance sheet.
RBS said its underlying operating profit in 2007 reached 10.28 billion pounds, up from 9.41 billion in 2007 and the same as an average forecast from a Reuters Estimates poll of analysts.
The bank said its tier 1 capital ratio ended last year at 7.3 percent and its core tier 1 ratio was 4.5 percent, better than analysts had predicted.
It said improved financial returns after the ABN deal "will help to accelerate delivery of the group's capital regeneration commitments".
RBS shares have tumbled 35 percent since the end of June as fears it faced a big writedown were compounded by concern it had bought ABN's wholesale bank just as capital markets slowed.
Its U.S. and UK retail banks also face stiff headwinds, raising concern that its capital position was tight.
(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by David Holmes)
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