Royal Bank of Scotland, 70% owned by the UK Government, today identified "competitive" hiring by rivals as a risk to future growth and said that revenues had already been hit by departures. Operating profits from investment banking rose sharply, but the bank warned that good results, buoyed by fixed income, could be "unsustainable".

First half operating profits from RBS's investment banking division more than quadrupled from the same period a year ago, as booming activity across its interest rates trading and credit market businesses helped reverse the "terrible" losses of last year.