Royal Bank of Scotland have announced a £1.6bn final dividend which results in almost £1bn windfall for taxpayers, this is the banks second successive year in the black.
The government still owns 62.4% of the bank, bottom line profits have nearly doubled from £752m in 2018 to £1.62bn.
Since the government’s £45m bailout, ten years ago the Bank has paid its second dividend the government are to receive £977m.
Ross McEwan, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland said, “This is a good performance in the face of economic and political uncertainty, with bottom line profits more than double what we achieved the previous year.
“We are also announcing an intention to pay back more capital to shareholders and almost £1 billion is set to be returned to UK taxpayers for 2018.
“With strong capital and liquidity levels, we are well positioned to support the UK economy. Our total lending to business and commercial customers reached over £100 billion at the end of 2018.”
