Royal Bank of Scotland saw its first quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2015.

It posted profits of £259million for the first three months of 2017, after a £968million loss a year earlier, the BBC reported.

Allowing for restructuring costs, the core operating business made a profit of £1.3billion, an increase of £1.02billion.

Meanwhile, Barclays profits more than doubled in the first three months of the year. Pre-tax profit for the first quarter was £1.682billion, up from £793million for the same period last year, it was reported on the BBC.

Lloyds Banking Group saw its pre-tax profits doubled from a year ago to £1.3billion in the first quarter.

The bank, which was bailed out by the Government during the financial crisis, is expected to be fully back in private ownership soon.

The taxpayer now holds under two per cent of Lloyds which has seen a large reduction in staff numbers in recent years.