RBS in talks with government over dividend policy

The Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks with the government to buy back £1.5bn of shares held by UKFI in a move which could hasten its return to the dividend register.

The bank is negotiating with UK Financial Investments (UKFI) - which controls the government's interest in RBS - over the purchase of £1.5bn worth of dividend access shares UKFI holds which were granted to the bank at the time of the 2008 bailout. The repurchase of the shares would need to be agreed by all shareholders, and means RBS may well push back the date of its AGM to late June this year in order to allow time for negotiations with UKFI - its largest shareholder - to be completed. While the government would still have an 80% stake in RBS even if the bank bought back the dividen...