Royal Bank of Scotland moved announced that it was in profit today, taking the total profits of the banking sector to £15.5bn in the first half of the year.

Royal Bank of Scotland shares rose by 2% to 53p in early trading, giving the taxpayer a £3bn profit on the 90.6bn shares owned by the government. RBS is currently 83% owned by the government. HSBC, Barclays, Northern Rock, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered all reported first-half profits that were well beyond expectations.

RBS is one of the banks that could be affected by the government’s commission on banking. The commission is considering whether banks should broken up to make the financial system safer as a whole. Barclays indicated that it was considering its “options” which might include a move abroad.

RBS, which must now lend £50bn to businesses under an agreement with the government, admitted that firms were still repaying loans faster than it could grant them, although it said it was “on plan” to meet the £50bn target. Net repayments by businesses were £1.4bn in the second quarter while net mortgage lending was £3.2bn in the four months from March to June, showing that RBS was lending more than customers were paying back.

“RBS remains on course to achieve its £8bn mortgage lending target for the March 2010 to February 2011 period,” the bank said.