Was this spooking the RBS share price on Wednesday morning?
From the RBS rights issue announcement – April 22.
Citizens’ credit portfolio continues to perform satisfactorily, with the exception of a specific portfolio within its home equity book, referred to in RBS’s trading update of 6 December 2007. Delinquencies on this portfolio have risen markedly as the housing market has continued to weaken and the Group has continued to increase provisions. Excluding this portfolio, delinquencies in consumer lending represented only 0.7% of balances in the first quarter, unchanged from the level of a year earlier.
Unfortunately, December’s trading statement did not provide much more detail:
Impairment provisioning has stepped up to a more normal level, reflecting the impact of the weakening US real estate market in the second half on some elements of Citizens’ portfolio.
Although last month’s trading update threw a little more light on the matter:
While the global economic outlook is placing strains on a number of business sectors, the Group’s loan portfolio remains robust, with a continued reduction in UK personal sector impairment losses but increased US impairments, principally in a specific retail portfolio, as previously disclosed.
Hopefully there will be more detail when RBS reports interim results on August 8.