RBS slumps to loss after massive writedown

By Steve Slater and Clara Ferreira-Marques LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland fell to a first-half loss of 691 million pounds, one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history but not as bad as expected, after taking a 5.9 billion writedown on the value of risky assets. RBS, Britain’s second-biggest bank, said the loss was "a chastening experience" but it was on track to rebuild capital and sales of assets was going as planned. Fred Goodwin, RBS chief executive, said on Friday the bank was talking to "a number" of potential buyers for its insurance arm, which is valued at 5-6 billion pounds, but he is not reliant on a sale to reach higher capital targets. By 8:30 a.m. RBS shares were up 2.4 percent at 238 pence, one of the top performing stocks, which analysts attributed to a better than expected capital position and... [read full story]