The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. (RBS) Friday reported a decline in its third quarter profits. The much watched banking stock in the FTSE posted an operating profit of 267 million pounds which is 63 percent down for the same quarter last year.

The company's investment-banking revenue slipped 29 percent to 1.1 billion pounds from the previous quarter. RBS follows Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays Plc and UBS AG in posting an investment-banking revenue drop due to the concern that Greece will default crimped income from trading and underwriting stocks and bonds in Europe, reports Bloomberg News.

The biggest government owned bank of Britain described the third quarter as "modestly profitable." It expects difficult conditions to continue in the fourth quarter. "RBS's third quarter results show the improved strength and resilience we have built up since 2008," said chief executive Stephen Hester, reports BBC.

The bank has cut its holdings of sovereign debt from Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain to £772m at the end of September, from £4bn at the start of the year.

The RBS shares are down almost 50 percent over the past year.

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