RBS earmarks another £2bn to cover past mistakes

Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside another £2 billion to cover past mistakes as part of a raft of mammoth financial provisions.

The taxpayer-backed lender said it was putting by £1.5 billion to cover expected legal action on US residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as £500 million extra for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling compensation.

RBS said it was also pumping another £4.2 billion into its pension scheme.

Ross McEwan, chief executive of RBS, said: "I am determined to put the issues of the past behind us and make sure RBS is a stronger, safer bank.

"We will now continue to move further and faster in 2016 to clean up the bank and improve our core businesses."

The additional hit for US mortgage legal action, which is expected to be settled soon, takes its total to £3.8 billion, although RBS stressed this related only to civil claims and does not include any potential settlement relating to the Department of Justice or US Attorneys investigations.

Its PPI provision sees its total bill for the mis-selling scandal reach £4.3 billion and Mr McEwan said it was a lesson to the entire banking industry of the "importance of treating customers fairly".

The bank, which is 73% owned by the Government, also revealed a £498 million write-down on the value of its troubled private banking business.

Mr McEwan said: "We've always been open about the scale of past issues facing RBS and although there is clearly much more to do, this announcement is a further step towards addressing legacy issues."