RBS makes £666m property loss

Losses on property loans fell 43% from £1.3bn in the second quarter, primarily due to a decrease in losses on Irish property loans made by RBS’s Ulster Bank subsidiary. Ulster Bank made a £236m loss on property loans in the third quarter, compared to £1.1bn in Q2.

Losses on structured finance loans from the bank’s global banking and markets division – which undertook the bank’s more complex UK and overseas lending - were £178m,  while losses on the pure UK lending were £82m.

In its recent note on UK banks, JP Morgan Cazenove warned that RBS, Lloyds and Barclays could face losses on property loans of up to £20bn, as loans that have been extended begin to mature.

The bank cut its “non-core” property exposure – loans and assets that it wants to dispose of by 2014 – by £2.1bn to £38bn.