UK - Royal Bank of Scotland announced that it had made a loss of £3.6Bn. A vast improvement on the results from 2008 when it lost £24.3Bn - a record for a UK company.

Despite making a loss RBS still payed out £1.3Bn in bonuses to staff. Stephen Hester, the bank's chief executive, said RBS is a 'prisoner' to market rates on pay and will continue to lose key staff because it can't pay more.

Th Bank which is 84pc owned by the state came unstuck when it's aggressive lending and expansion, and the disastrous bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, resulted in RBS becoming one of the most spectacular casualties of the financial crisis.

Former chief Sir Fred Goodwin, Goodwin has become a bi-word for reckless management, was ousted after RBS turned to the Government for more capital in the autumn of 2008 as Britain's recession deepened.

RBS was also forced to write off £13.9Bn in bad debts

RBS shares rose more than 5pc in early trading after the bank said that its bad loans have probably peaked.