RBS posts record loss in British corporate history

London: RBS said it made a loss of up to 28 billion pounds ($41.3 billion) last year, the biggest loss in British corporate history, includ...

London: RBS said it made a loss of up to 28 billion pounds ($41.3 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.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said bad loans worldwide were likely to exceed current estimates.

"The current figure of $1.4 trillion to rise a little more," Shirakawa told a parliamentary committee.

Britain pumped 37 billion pounds into the banks in October but credit remains scarce and finance minister Alistair Darling said fourth-quarter GDP figures out on Friday would confirm the UK is in recession for the first time since 1992.

"There is a way to go yet. Looking out towards the next year, there's no doubt the downturn in economies across the world is really quite sharp now," he said.

Under the latest multi-billion UK plan, lenders would identify their riskiest assets which they could then insure with the government for a fee. They would still be liable for initial losses but could at least put in a ceiling, boosting confidence.

The Danish government unveiled a 100 billion crown ($17.8 billion) bank credit package of its own on Sunday to jump-start corporate and private lending, prompting shares in leading Danish banks to trade higher on Monday.

The worst financial crisis in 80 years has already felled top banks. Shares in Britain's Barclays crashed 25 per cent on Friday as speculation hit fever pitch.

On Monday, Barclays said it knew of no justification for that fall and said it expected to report annual pre-tax profit well in excess of the 5.3 billion pounds consensus estimate.

Its shares leapt 7 per cent in response, while Europe's top share index climbed 1.1 per cent. But RBS shares plunged 20 per cent on the back of its colossal loss.

"If recent history is a guide, any market euphoria related to such a bailout package generally evaporates on the realisation that such mammoth support was required in the first instance," said Daragh Maher, Deputy Head of Global FX Strategy at Calyon.