A lot of us will be feeling RBS’s pain – but not those who did the damage

Outlook

RBS is broadly delivering on its long-term plan (AFP/Getty)

Did anyone notice there were some good bits in Royal Bank of Scotland’s results? No, really – there were. The bank is broadly delivering on its long-term plan. Its capital position has strengthened, and its mortgage business was the best for more than a year. The investment bank is being “restructured” – gutted might be a better description – into something more appropriate for what might eventually become a powerful regional player, as opposed to the global superbank of Fred Goodwin’s fevered dreams.

The trouble is that the cost of the grotesque misconduct – which appears to have been commonplace during Mr Goodwin’s nightmare reign – continues to drag RBS down like a lead weight attached to the feet of a drowning man.

Yet more provisions against future misconduct penalties (they now stand at more than £5bn) pushed RBS into the red again in the first quarter of the year. The disturbing thing is that this huge number might still not be enough. There are more costs to come from the bank’s part in the foreign exchange-rigging scandal, but the really brutal hit could come from its involvement in selling the sort of mortgage-backed securities that helped to create the financial crisis. Analysts’ estimates for how much this might cost vary so wildly that the only prudent course of action for investors – which means us taxpayers – is to think the worst.

The impact of these penalties, both civil and regulatory, will not be felt by the people responsible for them, most of whom now have comfortable lives thanks to the pensions built up when they worked at the bank. Instead, it will be felt by the taxpayer and those attempting to clean up the mess.

That’s not to say that RBS should be handed a pass. A gun-toting bank robber who undergoes an epiphany and then does five years of selfless charity work will still go to prison. A price has to be paid. Those harmed by the actions of a miscreant bank must receive a measure of justice. And justice is something that some of the traders involved in Libor fixing, foreign exchange rigging and the rest may yet face alongside RBS the institution.

But what of the executives and directors who brought this bank crashing down, and presided over the amoral free-for-all on the trading floor? One of them has voluntarily accepted a ban from the City – and that is as far as it goes.

Which again leaves us to ask whether sufficient effort has really been made by the regulators, and perhaps the legal authorities. The City’s advocates are fond of complaining about what they see as this country’s penchant for banker bashing – in this case, the perception that those responsible for the mess that RBS is now trying to clean up “got away with it”.

These results can only add fuel to that fire. It may well turn into an inferno if the Americans decide to bring the hammer down later this year.

The Conservatives want to give housing association tenants a discounted right to buy

Whoever we vote for, the estate agents can’t lose

Estate agents aren’t much loved at the best of times, and that one of the brashest of the bunch is finding it tough going may encourage feelings of schadenfreude in more than a few Londoners.

In truth, however, Foxtons will probably feel rather relieved to be the subject of its neighbours’ “shameful joy”, given what some of them did to one of its branches in Brixton, south London, last weekend. It had its windows smashed and was daubed with graffiti amid a protest about house prices, gentrification and evictions in Brixton.

Beyond that, the group’s recent trading difficulties have been blamed on the general election creating uncertainty and causing a slowdown in the housing market.

All of the politicians are talking about housing and both vendors and buyers are waiting to see if they will do better from what emerges after the ballot. The likelihood, however, is that it won’t be long before the sun is shining on Foxtons again. Both of the big parties have drawn up silly policies that will do little to solve the housing market’s problems, but won’t overly harm an upmarket estate agent.

The Conservatives want to give housing association tenants a discounted right to buy. It won’t actually benefit that many of them, but it could serve as a lottery win for those living in the right parts of the capital and with the means to take advantage. Councils are also going to have to sell their best properties, and it seems a racing certainty that the already pitiful supply of affordable homes in London and one or two other hotspots will be further reduced.

Labour, meanwhile, has pledged to help people get on to the property ladder by abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers looking to purchase homes for less than £300,000. This will encourage buyers to trade up and vendors to price up in anticipation of buyers having more cash to play with as a result of reduced transaction costs. Meanwhile, no one believes the numbers for new building being bandied around by either Labour or the Tories. We’ve had similar rhetoric before, and the reality has repeatedly failed to match up to it. One way or another, however, the market seems set for a rebound after the election, and prices heading in a northerly direction will do wonders for Foxtons’ revenues.

It might have to take steps to prevent a few more smashed windows as it moves into more “gentrifying areas” in the suburbs of the capital – places like Walthamstow, say. But it can surely bear the cost of a few sheets of toughened glass.