You could string a whole lot of clichés together about the Royal Bank of Scotland’s massive £12 billion rights issues and persuade yourself that now is the time to get back into bank shares.

Here are a few.

RBS is ‘kitchen sinking’ – making sure that every possible bad debt is out there on public display so there are no more ‘skeletons in the closet’. Indeed, it has now ‘washed all its dirty linen in public.’ And just to complete the full set ‘a line has been drawn in the sand.’

Meanwhile the shares are ‘cheap as chips’.  They stand 40% lower than this time last year and are valued at less than five times earnings. Those new rights shares, being issued at 46% below last night’s close may turn out to be the ‘sale of the century.’

‘Fill your boots!’ has to be the obvious response. ‘This is too good to miss! There’s a fire sale in banking shares!’

Steady on, please. Here are some good reasons why a more cautious attitude might the order of the day.

First, the market reaction. RBS shares  rose first thing this morning after the news emerged. They are now slipping back as investors read the details.

The bank’s conference call with analysts and journalists seems to have impressed few with chairman Sir Tom McKillop making clear that the head of CEO Sir Fred Goodwin is not being called for. So whose fault were all these bad loans and the disastrous purchase of ABN? Where does the buck stop?