RBS agrees to pay $4.9bn to end US probe

Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed a $4.9bn penalty with US regulators to end a long-running probe into its actions in the lead-up to the financial crisis. RBS boss Ross McEwan said the agreement in principle with the US Justice Department (DoJ) was ‘a milestone’. A BBC News report says the probe into RBS’ sale of financial products from 2005 to 2007 has been a financial cloud hanging over the bank. The DoJ said further details must be negotiated before a final deal is done. McEwan is quoted in the report as saying: ‘Today's announcement is a milestone moment for the bank. Reaching this settlement in principle with the US Department of Justice will, when finalised, allows us to deal with this significant remaining legacy issue and is the price we have to pay for the global ambitions pursued by this bank before the crisis.’

Full BBC News report