Britain's state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland plunged into a near £9.0-billion loss last year on vast charges for litigation and the creation of a 'bad bank' division, it said on Thursday.
The lender, which is 81-percent owned by the government after a huge bailout during the global financial crisis, added it would seek to slash its cost base by another £5.3 billion in the coming years and warned of more "inevitable" job cuts.
Losses after taxation ballooned to £8.995 billion ($15.0 billion, 10.9 billion euros) in 2013.
That compared with a loss of £6.055 billion in 2012, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said in a results statement.
The loss was sparked by a £3.8-billion provision for a string of scandal-related charges and a £4.8-billion hit for the creation of an internal "bad bank" unit called RBS Capital Resolution (RCR).
Pre-tax losses jumped to £8.24 billion last year, from £5.28 billion last time around. Revenues fell 12 percent to £19.44 billion.
Despite the vast loss, the bank's staff bonus pool stood at £576 million last year, which was 15 percent lower than in 2012.
Edinburgh-based RBS added it would cut costs by £1.0 billion this year, and would slash its total cost base from £13.3 billion in 2013 to £8.0 billion in the medium term.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Royal Bank of Scotland posts 2013 net loss of £8.995bn