Britain's two largest state-controlled banks will reveal losses for 2011 later this week following a period of job cuts and debt restructuring.
A group of 13 economic experts surveyed by Bloomberg have today (21 February) asserted that both the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are set to record negative financial figures for last year.
However, the analysts feel it likely that these financiers will reverse this trend in 2012 as the effects of redundancies and writedowns start to be reflected on their balance sheets.
For instance, it is anticipated that while RBS may have experienced a net loss of £1.1 billion in 2011, the firm will return a £887 million profit this year.
Meanwhile, it is thought that Lloyds will turn a £2.6 billion loss last year into a £1.5 billion profit this time around.
This comes after the Daily Telegraph revealed that five senior executives at Lloyds are to be stripped of bonuses worth more than £1 million for their roles in the payment protection insurance scandal.
By Asim Shah
