AKIPRESS.COM - Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside a further $3.8bn (£3.1bn) to cover fines in the US, the bank has said.

The provision is for an expected penalty over the sale of financial products linked to risky mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis, BBC reported.

RBS, which is 72% state-owned, has now put £6.7bn aside to cover litigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

It means the bank is set to report a loss for 2016, the ninth year in a row that RBS has lost money.

Chief executive Ross McEwan has been trying to end RBS's legal wrangles so that the government can sell its stake in the bank, which was the result of a £45.5bn bailout during the financial crisis.

Ministers have shelved plans to sell further shares in the lender, in part because of uncertainty over the scale of the potential DoJ fine.