RBS may have to plug £5.6bn pensions deficit if Scotland votes Yes

Royal Bank of Scotland could be forced to plug a £5.6bn deficit in its pensions scheme if Scotland votes Yes on Thursday.

Analysis from Credit Suisse shows Britain's biggest companies would be left with a combined pensions funding deficit of about £100bn. They include Lloyds, which has a pensions deficit of £659m, and BP, which had a £1.3bn deficit at the last count in 2011. One pensions expert warned that some companies may have to go cap in hand to shareholders to raise the money, according to the Daily Mail. They said: "This would be an absolute disaster. Most of the big companies have billions of pounds of deficit - so they might have to split the scheme in two, one for Scotland and one for the UK...