A year after Royal Bank of Scotland called time on its approach of having a standalone investment bank and outlined further cuts, the group said its corporate and institutional banking division posted a loss for 2015 - even before factoring in its huge litigation and restructuring bill.

The CIB unit's underlying business turned from a £233 million operating profit in 2014 to a £55 million loss in 2015, RBS said in its results on February 26.