RBS's pre-tax profit nearly doubles in first half of 2014

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) Friday announced a pre-tax profit of 2.6 billion pounds (4.42 billion U.S. dollars) for the first half of 2014, compared to 1.37 billion pounds in the same period a year earlier.
In the second quarter of 2014, however, RBS registered pre-tax profits of 1.01 billion pounds, lower than the 1.6 billion pounds of the previous quarter.
It also reported an operating profit of 1.3 billion pounds, higher than the 1.2 billion pounds of the first quarter of 2014, figures showed.
The group's common equity Tier 1 ratio (CET 1), a gauge of financial stamina, strengthened to 10.1 percent at the end of June 2014 from the 8.6 percent at the end of last year.
The bank said it remains on the track to achieve its CET 1 targets of 11 percent and 12 percent by the end of 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Profit attributable to shareholders was 1.4 billion pounds, compared with 535 million pounds a year earlier, data also showed.
Ross McEwan, chief executive of the group, said: "The results we are posting today show the steady progress we are making as we take the steps to be a much simpler, smaller and fairer bank."
"These results show that underneath all the noise and huge restructuring of recent years, RBS is a fundamentally stronger bank that can deliver good results for customers and shareholders," he added. (1 pound = 1.70 U.S. dollars)