RBS Reports Rise in 3Q Pretax Profit, Expects to Be Profitable in 2018

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS.LN) on Friday reported a significant increase in pretax profit for the third quarter and said that it still expected to be profitable in 2018.

The bank said that profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose to 871 million pounds ($1.15 billion) from GBP255 million in the year-earlier period, while net interest income rose to GBP2.30 billion from GBP2.17 billion in 2016.

The majority state-owned bank said that its common-equity tier-one ratio--a measure of bank solvency--was 15.5%, up 0.7 percentage points from the bank's CET1 ratio in the second quarter of this year.

RBS said it retained its 2017 full-year financial guidance and the medium-term financial outlook it provided in its 2016 annual results document.

The bank said it still expects to be profitable in 2018, subject to any further provisions for the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into historic activities related to residential mortgage-backed securities.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)