LONDON, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 82 percent owned by the state, said on Thursday that it incurred a total loss of 1.99 billion pounds (3.14 billion U.S. dollars) for 2011, almost double from a 1.1-billion-pounds (1.73 billion dollars) loss in 2010.
According to RBS's full year report for 2011, it made a pre-tax loss of 766 million pounds (1.2 billion dollars) for 2011 and a total loss of 1.99 billion pounds (3.12 billion dollars) following various accounting and tax charges.
The company's financial status was announced amid strong criticism and political anger in a country for banks' high bonus while making losses.
For 2011, RBS said its investment bankers will share a bonus pool of 390 million pounds (612.3 million dollars), less than half the amount awarded last year, while total staff costs were down 9 percent to 8.2 billion pounds (12.87 billion dollars).
Stephen Hester, the RBS chief executive, defended that the bank's bonuses were "pretty good value for the taxpayer" as they were needed to attract competent professionals.
The British taxpayer owns 82 percent of RBS after the government bailed out the bank at the end of 2008, when it reported the largest annual loss in Britain's corporate history of 24.1 billion pounds (37.84 billion dollars). For RBS, which can trace its history back almost 300 years, 2008 saw its first full-year loss.
It made a loss of 3.6 billion pounds (5.65 billion dollars) loss in 2009, entailing fall of shares by almost 50 percent last year.
Hester, who took over running the bank from Fred Goodwin in November 2008, has said he is in the midst of implementing a five-year plan to restore the state-owned bank to normality. He had turned down his bonus of close to 1 million pounds (1.57 billion dollars) for 2011 earlier.
