Hiscott added that the UK’s third-largest bank was facing additional headwinds, recovering from Staley’s conduct in the whistleblowing incident and dealing with Brexit-related complications.
“With Britain’s future no longer in Europe, the bank having its base in Canary Wharf with the possibility of staff relocations to other European capitals could be problematic.
“In addition, the allegations that chief executive Jes Staley attempted to identify an anonymous whistleblower continues to put the spotlight on the firm’s corporate governance, which took a damaging blow from the Libor rate rigging scandal.
“At the moment, the share-price valuation seems to reflect a slight malaise for the stock in general, being now lower for 2017, compared to the FTSE which is higher by 2.1% over the same period.”
RBS, which was beleaguered amid legacy litigation and restructuring costs last year, announced Friday it had returned to delivering a profit by the end of the first quarter. Pre-tax profit was £259m, up from the £4.4bn loss recorded at 31 December and the £968m loss reported in the first three months of 2016.
Adjusted operating profit reached £1.4bn, beating analysts’ £942m figure.
RBS’s results “have far exceeded analyst expectations and last year’s competitive figures, thanks to strong performance from its UK retail bank and its investment banking division, NatWest Markets,” noted Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf.
Even the £50m losses from its “bad bank,” created after the financial crisis to dispose of the bank’s toxic assets, were “considerably lower than last year,” he added.
