NEW YORK, Feb. 20, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP (www.pomerantzlaw.com) is filing a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of investors who purchased 6.125% Series R Non-cumulative Dollar Preference Shares (the "Series R Shares") offered to the public by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc ("RBS") (NYSE:RBS) in December 2006 and purchased any time thereafter. The lawsuit names as defendants RBS, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc ("Royal Bank," a subsidiary of RBS), RBS senior officers and directors, and underwriters of the Series R Shares.
RBS is the holding company of one of the world's largest banking and financial services groups. Headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, RBS operates in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally through its two principal subsidiaries, the Royal Bank and NatWest. Both the Royal Bank and NatWest are major United Kingdom-based clearing banks.
RBS offered the Series R Shares by means of a prospectus that contained both material misstatements and omissions. At the time of the offering, RBS was suffering from several adverse factors that were not revealed to prospective investors. These adversities included: (i) RBS's extensive portfolio of asset backed securities, including collateralized debt obligations, was impaired to a much larger extent than RBS had disclosed; (ii) RBS failed to properly record losses for these impaired assets; (iii) RBS's internal controls were inadequate to prevent the company from improperly reporting its debt securities; and (iv) RBS's capital base was inadequate to withstand the significant deterioration in the subprime market.
RBS ultimately announced huge multi-billion pound impairment charges associated with its exposure to debt securities, including mortgage-related securities tied to the U.S. real estate markets. This caused the price of the Series R Shares to decline sharply.
If you purchased or acquired Series R Shares pursuant and/or traceable to the prospectus, you have until March 13, 2009 to ask the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff for the class. Lead plaintiffs must meet certain legal requirements. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions, please contact Teresa L. Webb at 888.476.6529 (toll free) or tlwebb@pomlaw.com.
The Pomerantz Firm, which has offices in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio and the San Francisco Bay area, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, insurance and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 70 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members.