rbs201105066k7.htm
 
FORM 6-K
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington D.C. 20549

 
 
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
 
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
 
For May 6, 2011
 
Commission File Number: 001-10306

 
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc

 
RBS, Gogarburn, PO Box 1000
Edinburgh EH12 1HQ

 
(Address of principal executive offices)
 
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
 
Form 20-F X
  
Form 40-F ___
 
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1):_________

 
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7):_________


Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.


Yes
   ___
No X
 
 
If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________

 
 
The following information was issued as a Company announcement in London, England and is furnished pursuant to General Instruction B to the General Instructions to Form 6-K:

 
 

 
Risk and balance sheet management (continued)
Market risk
Market risk arises from changes in interest rates, foreign currency, credit spread, equity prices and risk related factors such as market volatilities. The Group manages market risk centrally within its trading and non-trading portfolios through a comprehensive market risk management framework. This framework includes limits based on, but not limited to, value-at-risk (VaR), stress testing, position and sensitivity analyses.
 
VaR is a technique that produces estimates of the potential change in the market value of a portfolio over a specified time horizon at given confidence levels. For internal risk management purposes, the Group's VaR assumes a time horizon of one trading day and a confidence level of 99%. The Group's VaR model is based on a historical simulation model, utilising data from the previous two years trading results.
 
The VaR disclosure is broken down into trading and non-trading where trading VaR relates to the main trading activities of the Group and non-trading reflects the VaR associated with reclassified assets, money market business and the management of internal funds flow within the Group's businesses.
 
The Group's VaR should be interpreted in the light of the limitations of the methodology used, as follows:
 
·
Historical simulation VaR may not provide the best estimate of future market movements. It can only provide a prediction of the future based on events that occurred in the 500 trading day time series. Therefore, events more severe than those in the historical data series cannot be predicted.
   
·
The use of a 99% confidence level does not reflect the extent of potential losses beyond that percentile.
   
·
The use of a one day time horizon will not fully capture the profit and loss implications of positions that cannot be liquidated or hedged within one day.
   
·
The Group computes the VaR of trading portfolios at the close of business. Positions may change substantially during the course of the trading day and intra-day profits and losses will be incurred.
 
These limitations mean that the Group cannot guarantee that profits or losses will not exceed the VaR.


 
Risk and balance sheet management (continued)
Market risk: GBM traded revenue
 
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0661G_-2011-5-6.pdf
 
 
 
Note:
(1)
The effect of any month end adjustments, not attributable to a specific daily market move, is spread evenly over the days in the month in question.
 
Key points
·
The average daily revenue earned from GBM's trading, balance sheet management and other trading activities in Q1 2011 was £33.9 million, compared with £15.5 million in Q4 2010 and £39.7 million in Q1 2010. The standard deviation of these daily revenues was £19.9 million in Q1 2011, compared with £20.7 million in Q4 2010 and £19.7 million in Q1 2010. The standard deviation measures the variation of daily revenues about the mean value of those revenues.
   
·
An analysis of the frequency distribution of daily revenue shows that there were two days with negative revenue during Q1 2011, compared with eleven days in Q4 2010 and no days in Q1 2010. The most frequent result in Q1 2011 is a daily revenue of between £25 million and £30 million with ten occurrences compared with five occurrences in Q4 2010 and six occurrences during Q1 2010.
 

 
 
Risk and balance sheet management (continued)
Market risk (continued)
 
The table below details VaR for the Group's trading portfolio, segregated by type of market risk exposure, and between Core and Non-Core, Counterparty Exposure Management (CEM) and Core excluding CEM.
 
Quarter ended
 
31 March 2011
  
31 December 2010
  
31 March 2010
 
Average 
Period end 
Maximum 
Minimum 
  
Average 
Period end 
Maximum 
Minimum 
  
Average 
Period end 
Maximum 
Minimum 
Trading VaR
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
  
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
  
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
                             
Interest rate
60.4  
60.2 
79.2 
42.1 
  
64.0 
57.0 
83.0 
47.6 
  
47.5 
54.4 
64.2 
32.5 
Credit spread
134.1 
97.7 
151.1 
97.7 
  
134.4 
133.4 
196.1 
110.2 
  
148.8 
163.3 
191.5 
113.0 
Currency
12.2 
10.5 
18.0 
8.1 
  
15.2 
14.8 
25.6 
8.4 
  
18.6 
22.2 
24.7 
13.9 
Equity
11.1 
10.7 
14.5 
8.0 
  
10.1 
10.9 
15.2 
4.7 
  
11.3 
8.2 
17.3 
6.6 
Commodity
0.2 
0.1 
0.7 
    
7.9 
0.5 
18.1 
0.5 
  
10.6 
10.8 
14.0 
8.3 
Diversification
  
(71.1)
        
(75.6)
        
(126.4)
    
                             
Total
156.4 
108.1 
181.3 
108.1 
  
154.3 
141.0 
191.5 
110.8 
  
140.6 
132.5 
204.7 
103.0 
                             
Core
108.2 
72.2 
133.9 
72.2 
  
99.2 
101.2 
121.0 
58.3 
  
87.2 
82.4 
145.4 
58.9 
CEM
40.0 
34.7 
47.6 
34.5 
  
49.1 
54.6 
64.2 
38.7 
  
37.5 
33.6 
41.2 
30.3 
Core excluding CEM
88.0 
70.6 
106.2 
65.2 
  
81.3 
78.7 
102.8 
54.2 
  
79.5 
73.5 
108.7 
53.6 
                             
Non-Core
113.9 
109.4 
128.6 
104.1 
  
105.5 
101.4 
119.7 
92.3 
  
84.6 
87.1 
98.8 
63.2 
 
Key points
·
The credit spread VaR for Q1 2011 was lower than Q1 2010 primarily due to the exceptional volatility of the market data from the period of the financial crisis dropping out of the 500 days of time series data used in the VaR calculation. Credit spread VaR also reduced as the quality of the market data time series used in the ABS Mortgage Trading business was improved, moving from interpolated weekly data to daily observed time series. This change has improved the accuracy of the correlation between the different time series in the daily data. Additionally, the basis modelling between the cash and derivatives has been refined by introducing additional time series for the subprime and subordinated residential bonds, reducing the over-reliance on the commercial mortgage basis which was used as a conservative proxy.
   
·
CEM trading VaR reduced during Q1 2011 due to lower volatility combined with reduced exposures.
   
·
Non-Core VaR was slightly higher in Q1 2011 than for Q4 2010 due to increases in the market value of the exposures within the Structured Credit Portfolio (SCP) trading book, as credit indices continued to rally over the quarter.
   
·
The commodity VaR in Q1 2011 has reduced to a minimal level when compared with 2010 due to the sale of the Group's interest in the RBS Sempra Commodities joint venture.


 
Risk and balance sheet management (continued)
Market risk (continued)
 
The table below details VaR for the Group's non-trading portfolio, excluding the SCP and loans and receivables (LAR), segregated by type of market risk exposure and between Core and Non-Core.
 
Quarter ended
 
31 March 2011
  
31 December 2010
  
31 March 2010(1)
 
Average 
Period end 
Maximum 
Minimum 
  
Average 
Period end 
Maximum 
Minimum 
  
Average 
Period end 
Maximum 
Minimum 
Non-trading VaR
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
  
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
  
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
                             
Interest rate
7.8 
7.0 
10.8 
6.5 
  
8.0 
10.4 
10.8 
5.3 
  
10.1 
10.4 
13.3 
6.9 
Credit spread
23.8 
22.5 
39.3 
14.2 
  
17.0 
16.1 
21.8 
15.4 
  
55.1 
40.2 
101.2 
40.2 
Currency
0.6 
0.6 
1.8 
0.1 
  
2.3 
3.0 
3.7 
1.3 
  
1.4 
0.9 
4.9 
0.3 
Equity
2.5 
2.3 
3.1 
2.2 
  
2.9 
3.1 
4.6 
0.3 
  
1.2 
0.3 
3.5 
0.2 
Diversification
  
(5.4)
        
(15.9)
        
(15.0)
    
                             
Total
26.5 
27.0 
41.6 
13.4 
  
16.2 
16.7 
21.3 
13.7 
  
52.0 
36.8 
98.0 
36.8 
                             
Core
25.5 
26.1 
38.9 
13.5 
  
15.6 
15.6 
21.3 
12.8 
  
51.5 
36.5 
98.1 
36.5 
Non-Core
2.6 
2.4 
3.4 
2.2 
  
2.8 
2.8 
4.1 
0.2 
  
1.4 
0.3 
3.6 
0.3 
 
Note:
(1)
Revised to exclude SCP and LAR portfolios, implemented in Q2 2010 and Q4 2010 respectively.
 
Key points
·
The general increase in total, Core and credit spread VaR is primarily due to a change in the time series used for the Dutch RMBS portfolio in RBS N.V. as more relevant and granular market data became available.
   
·
The total VaR at 31 March 2011 is lower than at 31 March 2010, due primarily to the disposal of a large portfolio of illiquid available-for-sale securities during 2010, and also due to the exceptional volatility of the market data from the period of the financial crisis dropping out of the 500 days of time series data used in the VaR calculation, which in particular impacted the credit spread VaR.
 
 
 

 
 
Risk and balance sheet management (continued)
Market risk (continued)
 
Structured Credit Portfolio (SCP)
 
 
Drawn notional
  
Fair value
 
CDOs 
CLOs 
MBS (1)
Other 
 ABS 
Total 
  
CDOs 
CLOs 
MBS (1)
Other 
 ABS 
Total 
 
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
  
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
£m 
                       
31 March 2011
                      
1-2 years
- 
19 
- 
38 
57 
  
- 
18 
- 
34 
52 
2-3 years
12 
19 
43 
70 
144 
  
12 
17 
42 
64 
135 
3-4 years
- 
5 
11 
206 
222 
  
- 
5 
10 
194 
209 
4-5 years
15 
15 
- 
36 
66 
  
15 
14 
- 
33 
62 
5-10 years
96 
467 
313 
385 
1,261 
  
85 
435 
232 
342 
1,094 
>10 years
397 
624 
561 
530 
2,112 
  
154 
500 
400 
369 
1,423 
                       
 
520 
1,149 
928 
1,265 
3,862 
  
266 
989 
684 
1,036 
2,975 
                       
31 December 2010
                      
1-2 years
- 
- 
- 
47 
47 
  
- 
- 
- 
42 
42 
2-3 years
85 
19 
44 
98 
246 
  
81 
18 
37 
91 
227 
3-4 years
- 
41 
20 
205 
266 
  
- 
37 
19 
191 
247 
4-5 years
16 
- 
- 
- 
16 
  
15 
- 
- 
- 
15 
5-10 years
98 
466 
311 
437 
1,312 
  
87 
422 
220 
384 
1,113 
>10 years
412 
663 
584 
550 
2,209 
  
161 
515 
397 
367 
1,440 
                       
 
611 
1,189 
959 
1,337 
4,096 
  
344 
992 
673 
1,075 
3,084 
 
Note:
(1)
Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) include sub-prime residential mortgage-backed securities with a notional amount of £455 million (31 December 2010 - £471 million) and a fair value of £330 million (31 December 2010 - £329 million), all with residual maturities of greater than 10 years.
 
The SCP is within Non-Core. The risk on this portfolio is not measured or disclosed using VaR, as the Group believes this is not an appropriate tool for the banking book portfolio comprising illiquid debt securities. The main driver of the reduction in drawn notional is the depreciation of the US dollar and the amortisation of assets.


 
Additional information
 
31 March 
2011 
31 December 
2010 
     
Ordinary share price
£0.408 
£0.391 
     
Number of ordinary shares in issue
58,579m 
58,458m 
     
Market capitalisation (including B shares)
£44.7bn 
£42.8bn 
     
Net asset value per ordinary share
£0.63 
£0.64 
 
Statutory results
Financial information contained in this document does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 434 of the Companies Act 2006 ('the Act'). The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2010 will be filed with the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditor on those statutory accounts was unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain a statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Act.
 
These first quarter 2011 results have not been audited or reviewed by the auditors.
 
Financial calendar 
   
2011 interim results announcement 
5 August 2011
   
2011 third quarter interim management statement
4 November 2011
   
2011 annual results announcement
23 February 2012


 
 
 

Signatures


 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.







 
 
Date: 6 May 2011
 
THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP plc (Registrant)
 
 
 
By:
/s/ Jan Cargill
 
 
Name:
Title:
Jan Cargill
Deputy Secretary