RBS bank posts £3.5bn annual loss on US writedown

State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland on Thursday reported a massive net loss for 2014, caused by a writedown on its US operations, while confirming the appointment of a new chairman.
RBS, about 80-percent owned by the British government after a 2008 bailout, said losses after tax totalled £3.47 billion ($5.40 billion, 4.74 billion euros) last year following a £4.0 billion writedown on Citizens,  part of its US operations.
The performance was however much better than in 2013 when RBS had posted an annual net loss of almost £9.0 billion. And stripping out the writedown and other items, RBS recorded an operation profit of £3.5 billion for 2014.
"While... progress is evident in the operating profit line of the results announced today, we are still posting an attributable loss to our shareholders," chief executive Ross McEwan said in the earnings statement.
"Now the deconsolidation of Citizens is finally within sight, accounting rules require us to write it down to its estimated disposal value," he added.
RBS plans to sell all of Citizens after last year listing one-quarter of the US unit on the New York stock market.
Edinburgh-based RBS meanwhile on Thursday confirmed that former British financial watchdog chief Howard Davies will be its chairman from September, replacing Philip Hampton who is joining British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Royal Bank of Scotland was rescued with £45.5 billion of public money during the global financial crisis, in the world's biggest bank bailout.