Royal Bank of Scotland is to further shrink its investment bank arm and cut more jobs after the eurozone debt crisis sliced into third quarter profit, hampering its turnaround. RBS, 83 percent-owned by the UK government after it was bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis, said on Friday it expects a tough fourth quarter after it took a further hit on its Greek government bonds and sold most of its Italian bonds.
RBS reported an underlying profit of 267 million pounds ($426 million) for the three months to end-September, down 63 percent from a year ago. It had a core Tier 1 capital ratio of 11.3 percent and a liquidity pool of 170 billion pounds.