London: Royal Bank of Scotland says third-quarter earnings rose 61 percent as efforts to restructure the taxpayer-owned bank reduced costs.
The bank, bailed out by the government during the 2008 financial crisis, said Friday operating profit before one-time items rose to 1.33 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) from 826 million pounds in the same period a year earlier.
After one-time items, the bank reported a net loss of 469 million pounds in the quarter, compared with a profit of 940 million in the same quarter of 2015 when it posted a 1.15 billion-pound gain on the sale of Citizens Bank in the U.S.
Chief Executive Ross McEwan said: "We've said that 2015 and 2016 would be noisy as we work through legacy issues and transform this bank for customers. These results reflect that noise."
