, Columnist
RBS: From Brussels With Love
Flexibility over Williams & Glyn would help
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Royal Bank of Scotland, bailed out by British taxpayers in 2008 and still majority owned by Her Majesty's Government, has made progress toward recovery. But it'll be people in Brussels, not George Osborne, who decide whether it's done enough.
First-quarter results showed some of the scale and pain of the eight-year clean-up. The lender sank deeper into the red after repaying the U.K. for support received in the crisis -- a 1.2 billion pound ($1.75 billion) hit that from a financial perspective gets the bank closer to paying out dividends again.