RBS announce £3.6bn loss for 2009

The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced losses for 2009 of £3.6bn but will still pay bonuses of £1.3bn to its employees.

Taxpayers in the UK own 84% of the bank after the government was forced to bail out the bank at the end of 2008 due to its perilous financial position.

The company's £3.6bn loss was lower than the £5bn many experts were expecting and is well below the £24bn it lost in 2008. However, the level of bad debts rose to £13.9bn, up from £7.4bn in 2008. 

RBS recently said that it was satisfied it was fulfilling its lending commitments, which were to make an additional £9bn available to the mortgage market and £16bn to businesses. However, the bank has fallen short of its business lending target as it claims many companies have been concentrating on reducing their debts and the recession has led to a weak demand for loans.