Royal Bank of Scotland has reported profit of £1.622 billion.

In the in a quarter of 2018 the bank made a profit of £286 million.

Gross mortgage lending in UK personal and business banking increased £1.5 billion in 2018, and around 45,000 first-time buyers were lent to.

The UK government still has a 62% stake in the bank.

RBS’s chief executive, Ross McEwan, said: “Our financial performance is good, given the uncertain economic outlook. In 2018, we continued to take costs out of the business and reduced operating expenses by £278 million. This means that we have now reduced operating costs by more than £4 billion in five years.

“Our long-term target remains to reach a cost to income ratio of below 50%, however we note that as an industry we are required to carry additional costs to deal with Brexit and the ongoing operational obligations of ring-fencing. Given the continued low rate environment and highly competitive mortgage market, coupled with the uncertainty in the economy, income remains under pressure.

“We continue to focus on cost reduction to ensure we are preparing our business for the future and to meet our customers and shareholders needs.”