RBS: win some, lose some

George Hay Royal Bank of Scotland has lost one battle further afield. But a likely victory closer to home could end up being more important. Stephen Hester, the chief executive, returned from Brussels last week having agreed a painful surrender to Europe’s competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes. In return for receiving UK state aid in the form of insurance on £270bn of bad assets - and hopefully keeping its Citizens retail bank in the US - RBS is likely to sell its large insurance arm and offe...