Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reported a profit of £259 million for the rest quarter of 2017 compared with a loss of £968 million over the same period last year.

This included payment of the final Dividend Access Share (DAS) dividend of £1.2 billion.

Gross new mortgage lending of £7.8 billion was 10% higher than in Q1 2016 with market share of new mortgages at approximately 13%.

Ross McEwan, RBS chief executive, said: “This bank has a very strong core with great potential, and we believe that by going further on cost reduction and faster on digital transformation – we will deliver a simpler, safer and even more customer-focused bank, with a compelling investment case.”