Cutting edge

Sir Fred Goodwin, the Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive, looks to be swallowing as much of his bitter medicine as he can in one gulp. Alongside unveiling its £12bn cash call, Goodwin took a hatchet to the bank’s portfolio of subprime mortgage assets and leveraged loans. Its writedowns so far for 2008 are, at £5.9bn, three times its hit for last year. Turning from markdown laggard to zealot should allow Goodwin to salvage something from RBS’s mess. First, it gives the bank a margin of error ...