Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which is 70%-owned by taxpayers, has reported a pre-tax loss of £2.2bn for the three months to the end of September.

Speaking on the Today programme, RBS chief executive Stephen Hester said he was conscious of the "great responsibility" the bank has for the safe stewardship of the government's investment.

He said that the results showed the changes to RBS were starting to pay off, but admitted that recovery "would be a marathon and not a sprint".

"I do expect there will be losses overall well into next year," he says.

Mr Hester said despite gloomy predictions for the economy, he did not expect the bank to need the government's asset protection scheme.

Pressed on the amount the bank is lending to individuals and small businesses, he stated RBS was doing "a lot of lending", but said that "a borrowing spree is not the way out of recession."

And discussing the issue of bonuses, he said "we get it" and that RBS was leading the way on remuneration.

But he argued that in order to return government money, they needed to keep bonuses in some form to "keep people working".