ROSS MCEWAN has declared his hope that he will still be in charge of Royal Bank of Scotland when it returns to profitability, as the state-owned lender unveiled a bruising £7 billion annual loss and signalled further heavy job cuts are in store.
The Royal Bank chief executive came under pressure this week when it emerged the bill for meeting the bank’s state-aid obligations for its Williams & Glyn branches had spiralled to £2.55bn.
And the spotlight intensified on the New Zealander yesterday after the bank revealed its ninth consecutive annual loss, taking its cumulative losses to £58bn since its £45bn bailout by the taxpayer at the height of the financial crisis. The bank had made a £2bn loss in 2015.
Asked if he still hopes to be in charge when the bank returns to profitability, which the bank forecasts will be in 2018, Mr McEwan, who became chief executive in 2013, said: “I certainly hope so. We have done all the hard work in the last three and a half years. I can certainly sense that this bank is on the turn. You have seen our results from last year [and] the terrible loss that we have had to make. I’d like to be here when this bank fulfils what it can, of being a great bank for the UK.
“It is my strategy, I’d like to see it concluded.”
Investors sent shares in the lender down by 4.5 per cent as the bank raised the prospect of further job cuts and branch closures after stating it would look to make a further £750 million of cost savings this year – and £2bn in total by 2020. Mr McEwan refused to say how many employees and branches would be affected, but confirmed that its overall headcount has shrunk from 170,000 before the financial crash to just under 80,000.
He said: “I haven’t and will continue to not give job numbers out. My view is we talk to our staff before we talk to anybody about individual jobs that are going. It’s very clear that with £2bn coming out of this business in the next four years to get us back into a competitive shape, there will be job losses that we have to go through, and they will be across the business as we do get this business back into shape.”
The latest results for the crisis-hit lender show that the bank’s bottom line was weighed down by litigation and conduct costs of £5.9 billion. Prior to the results this week, it said the bill for offloading the 300 Williams & Glyn branches – a condition imposed by the EU on its £45bn bailout at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 - had totalled £1.8bn. That figure increased last week when the bank said it would spend £750m on measures to boost competition in the UK banking sector instead of selling the branches.
Asked why the plug had not been pulled sooner on attempts to launch Williams & Glyn as a standalone bank, Mr McEwan said the bank had been bound by a legal obligation to pursue the divestment by the EC. The decision to scrap plans to float Williams & Glyn was ultimately made because low interest rates meant it was “not a viable business”, Mr McEwan said. The Bank of England cut interest rates to 0.25 per cent under a package of stimulus measures after the Brexit vote and it was after that when the Bank looked at “alternatives”. It pursued a trade sale before the alternative proposals were tabled to the EC last week.
The bank said it will be “no earlier than Q4 this year” before it will learn whether it has the EC’s support for the Treasury’s proposals for Williams & Glyn, adding that the process will take some time after that if it is approved.
The Williams & Glyn charges were part of total restructuring costs of £2.1bn booked by the bank in 2016, compared with £2.9bn in 2015.
Of the £5.9bn it booked in litigation and conduct costs, £3.1bn related to investigations and action in the US concerning the bank’s role in the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) ahead of the financial crash. Royal Bank is expected to be hit with a multi-billion dollar fine over the probe by the US Department of Justice this year, but had “nothing to update” on the matter yesterday.
The bank made a final special dividend payment of £1.19bn to the Treasury.
Mr McEwan expressed confidence that the bank would be able to draw under a line under its “two remaining legacy issues” – Williams & Glyn and the US fine – this year, before making a profit in 2018. It does not expect to recommence dividend payments to shareholders until it deals with these legacy issues, returns to profitability and passes a stress test. Mr McEwan emphasised the underlying strength of the “core bank”, which made an adjusted, pre-tax operating profit of £4.2bn.
He did not provide any guidance on the profits the bank expects to make in 2018, saying it will depend on the settlement with the US Department of Justice, and achieving “resolution” over Williams & Glyn.
Shares in Royal Bank closed down 11.2p at 238.2p.
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