· The Royal Bank of Scotland Group reports 2009 net attributable loss of £3.6 billion, down from £24.3 billion in 2008
· Core business 2009 operating profit rose 89% to £8.3 billion
· Fourth quarter operating performance benefited from rising NIM and lower provisions
· Year end Core Tier 1 ratio of 11.0%
· Good progress against the key metrics in our 5 year strategy

Key points:

• 2009 net attributable loss fell to £3.6 billion from £24.3 billion in 2008.

• 2009 operating loss(1) narrowed to £6.2 billion from £6.9 billion in 2008, with loss before tax falling to £1.9 billion from £8.3 billion in 2008.

• Pre-impairment profit, adjusted for fair value of own debt, improved to £7.8 billion from a loss of £0.7 billion in 2008.

• Core bank operating profit improved to £8.3 billion, compared with £4.4 billion in 2008. Exceptional trading results in GBM led the way.

• Net interest margin was 1.76% for the full year, down 32 basis points from 2008 but stabilising in the second half. Fourth quarter NIM of 1.83% was up 8 basis points compared with 3Q09.

• Impairments rose sharply to £13.9 billion from £7.4 billion in 2008, but now appear likely to have peaked. Fourth quarter impairments were 5% lower than 3Q09 and risk elements in lending at year end were unchanged compared with end-September at £35.0 billion.

• Risk in the balance sheet has been reduced, with total assets cut by £696 billion in 2009. Targeted £500 billion reduction in funded balance sheet in constant currency terms 70% complete.

• Core Tier 1 capital ratio improved to 11.0%, following the issue of B shares to the UK Government and accession to the Asset Protection Scheme. Risk-weighted assets at year-end were £438 billion.

• Good progress has been made on Strategic Plan implementation. The Group is ahead of its targets on every published measure for this first year of the five-year plan.

• Customer franchises remained strong: UK Retail added 360,000 current account customers and 80,000 mortgage accounts in 2009. Churchill increased motor policy numbers by 234,000.