Published on 13th June 2013
Shareholders in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) face even more uncertainty now that Mr.Hester is abandoning the top job at RBS. Yes, the lender will probably manage to turn a profit this year of 2bn pounds, versus net losses of 24bn pounds during the year he started. However, his successor will need to convince investors to buy a 30bn pound stake of equity which means convincing them of something more than just, “RBS will be less of a basket case in the future than it was a few years ago.” The challenge is particularly acute in its investment banking arm, which has absorbed a big chunk of the cuts as the balance sheet has been shrunk. Yet investors should be used to that, writes the Financial Times's Lex column.