Mortgages Uncovered

RBS this week revealed that the losses were in excess of over £24 billion during 2008, however, it has also confirmed their participation in the Government’s Asset Protection Scheme would be set to result in another £9 billion of funding for their mortgage products this year.
RBS also announced a significant internal restructure after it confirmed its’ sizeable losses, which has partially contributed to the £16.2 billion of underperforming assets.

Stephen Hester, RBS Group chief executive commented:

“We are, of course, in a privileged position to be able to restructure the Group with support from the UK Government. With that privilege come responsibilities that we mean to fulfill. We have many difficult decisions ahead of us and continued and major uncertainties in our markets. How we do business will be as important as the business we do as we navigate our way through these challenges. Everyone at RBS is now focused on the drive toward recovery. Participation in this Scheme would assist us in reducing risk for shareholders whilst providing greater support for UK customers via increased lending. It would provide increased certainty to the market by limiting potential losses on a significant proportion of our balance sheet.”