RBS shareholders
Thousands of investors were sold shares in 2008 in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) following a rights issue – an invitation for existing shareholders to buy additional shares in the company at a discount. However, only a few months after this cash call, the bank had to be bailed out by the government for £45 billion, sending share prices crashing.
Different groups of investors took legal action claiming they were misled and the bank created a false market for its shares. In June 2017, the bank settled £200 million in out-of-courts settlements, having set aside £800m for the exercise.