London - Britain's part-nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Friday announced losses of 857 million pounds (1.29 billion dollars) in the first three months of
2009.

The Edinburgh-based bank was at the centre of a government bail- out scheme last October and reported record losses in 2008. The government has a stake of more than 70 per cent in the bank.

RBS said bad debt charges in the first three months of 2009 amounted to 2.9 billion pounds.

The losses in the first quarter compare with a pre-tax profit of 479 million pounds in the same period in 2008.

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester said the bank had made "good progress" on its strategic plan to get back to "stand-alone strength."

In April, RBS said it was going to cut a further 9,000 jobs worldwide, on top of the 2,700 job losses already announced in Britain this year.

In 2008, RBS made a loss of 24.1 billion pounds - the largest annual loss in British corporate history.