Royal Bank of Scotland said it made a loss of over £20 billion ($30 billion) last year, the biggest loss in British corporate history, including a huge goodwill hit on its purchase of parts of ABN AMRO in 2007.
RBS said credit and market conditions deteriorated further in the fourth quarter and it will report a loss before goodwill impairments of between £7 billion and £8 billion pounds for 2008.
It expects a goodwill impairment charge of between £15 billion and £20 billion, largely related to its purchase of parts of ABN. It was still assessing the goodwill impairment, it said.
RBS warned on its 2008 alongside news of a second UK bank rescue plan. The UK government will replace the £5 billion pounds of RBS preference shares it holds with ordinary shares.
That could increase Britain's stake in the lender to near 70 per cent from 58 per cent.