RBS’ chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin has given his views about the crunch and how long he feels it will take to subside. Goodwin said: “It’s difficult to see it will take less than 12 months to work its way through. There's still more bad news than good news". Bad news certainly is something of a trend at the moment, with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warning of a recession. Goodwin said that while they are “open for business, it’s not business as usual”.

The statement from RBS comes as the CML produce figures that show 23,000 people to be in danger of negative equity as they took out 100% mortgages. Even though RBS said their profits were in line with guidance, Goodwin made it clear that he could not see a definitive end to the crunch. Goodwin has stated that

Lucy Trueick