It's heartbreaking when old lovers fight like this. Modern separations can be so ugly and so public these days.
Royal Bank of Scotland could be poised to sue Goldman Sachs for hundreds of millions of dollars after the American investment bank paid out $550m (£358m) to settle fraud charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman neither admitted nor denied the SEC's charges. However, as part of the settlement it did admit that it should have told investors in a controversial mortgage derivative known as Abacus that a hedge fund client which helped with the portfolio was betting on it failing.
RBS will receive $100m as part of the settlement but has the option of pursuing Goldman for more after the SEC said the case opened the door for civil claims. Another $150m will be paid to IKB Industrie Bank of Germany, which was the other big loser on the Abacus bond, with the rest going to the US government.
