Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland reported a widening first quarter loss on Friday as lower income, restructuring costs and sluggish asset sales showed the scale of problems still facing the lender.

The bank reported an attributable loss of £968, up from £459 million the year before and just higher than the £957 million average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by RBS.

Income dropped around 13 per cent year on year to £3.06 billion.

The spike in losses were also driven by a one-off £1.2 billion payment to end the British government’s priority over dividends and a £238 million restructuring bill.

That bill includes the mounting costs of separating its Williams & Glyn business, which the bank said it could fail to sell off before an end-2017 regulatory deadline.

RBS is struggling to return to health amidst an unprecedented corporate restructuring and has not made an annual profit since 2007.

RBS, which was rescued in a £46 billion taxpayer funded bailout during the 2007-09 financial crisis, is still 73 per cent owned by the British government. This quarter’s performance brings the total sum lost since the bailout to around £52 billion.

Reuters