New York Stock Exchange

RBS Writes Down $11.4 Billion, As U.S. Mortgages Bite 

Conservative estimates certainly came in handy for Royal Bank of Scotland’s [stock RBS][/stock] CEO Sir Fred Goodwin on Friday, with the bank reporting a whopping 5.9 billion pounds ($11.4 billion) in credit market write downs; the bank’s six-month loss of 802 million pounds ($1.5 billion) was well off earnings of 3.6 billion pounds ($6.9 billion) one year ago, and was the first in its history.