The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reported an increase in pre-tax profits for the third quarter of the year.

Pre-tax profits totalled £1.27 billion, an increase of £260m on the previous quarter and a major improvement on the £634m loss in the same period in 2013.

Gross new mortgage lending totalled £5.3 billion. Net mortgage growth was £0.8 billion with strong retention in fixed rate roll-offs and higher repayments.

Restructuring costs totalled £180 million, down from £385 million in the prior quarter, while litigation and conduct costs, including £400 million of potential conduct costs following investigations into the foreign exchange market and an additional £100 million provision for Payment Protection Insurance, were £780 million compared with £250 million in Q2 2014.

Ross McEwan, RBS chief executive, said: “In February I placed trust at the heart of my new strategy for our bank. We have taken the first steps towards that goal, with early progress in making RBS simpler, clearer and fairer. We are reducing costs, and are on track to achieve our capital targets.

“UK and Ireland are showing signs of growth, and impairment trends are significantly better than we had anticipated at the start of the year.

“We have confirmed today that Ulster Bank remains a core part of our bank. We have a good market position and believe that, with investment, Ulster Bank can deliver attractive shareholder returns in the future.

“But we know we still have a long list of conduct and litigation issues to deal with and much, much more to do to restore our customers’ trust in us.”