RBS is fined £28.6m over loans breach

PART-NATIONALISED Royal Bank of Scotland was today fined £28.6 million for breaking competition law after revealing details of its loan prices to rival Barclays.

The Office of Fair Trading said RBS told Barclays the cost of its loans to large professional firms such as solicitors and accountants between October 2007 and February or March 2008.

Ali Nikpay, the OFT's senior director of cartels and criminal enforcement, said: "Any company that discloses confidential future pricing information to its competitors risks a substantial penalty."

The breaches date back to the early stages of the credit crunch, when Sir Fred Goodwin was still running RBS and banks were tightening up lending terms.

RBS, 84 per cent taxpayer-owned, had its fine cut from 33.6m by agreeing to co-operate with the OFT. Barclays approached the OFT with details of the breaches in March 2008 and will avoid punishment as long as it continues to co-operate with the watchdog.