Myths and reality of the bank shake-up November 3, 2009 AS predictably as day follows night, the myth-making machine spiralled out of control again yesterday. Perhaps the biggest is that the UK banking system is uniquely concentrated. As Citigroup research reveals, this simply is not so: overall UK banking system concentration (using the World Bank’s measure of assets of the biggest three banks as a [...]
REVOLUTION ON THE BANKING HIGH STREET – KEY POINTS November 3, 2009 ASSET PROTECTION SCHEMERBS:• Will receive a £25.5bn capital injection from government: £13bn upfront; £6bn of discretionary capital; and £6.5bn in a fee taken as capital.• Toxic assets placed in the APS cut from £325bn to £282bn.• RBS must cover first £60bn – not the £42bn that was first envisaged?– of losses on toxic assets in [...]
Czechs sign up to the EUtreaty November 3, 2009 EU banking supremo Neelie Kroes might be an all-powerful figure as she carves up some of Britain’s largest banks – but her successor will have a lot more clout. With Czech President Václav Klaus adding his signature to the Lisbon Treaty yesterday, the EU is set to have even more powers over Europe’s financial system. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 3, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES INDIA SOLD ON GOLDGold surged to an all-time high after India bought 200 tonnes of the precious metal, swapping dollars for bullion as the finance minister warned the economies of the US and Europe had ‘collapsed’. India’s decision to exchange $6.7bn for gold equivalent to eight per cent of world annual mine production [...]
Revamp rocks Barclays bank November 3, 2009 BARCLAYS announced the surprise departure of the head of its global retail and commercial banking (GRCB) division yesterday in a management shake-up that will boost the empire overseen by the group’s president Bob Diamond. Barclays said it was splitting up GRCB and that its boss Frits Seegers had resigned as a director and would leave [...]
Myners calls on investors to enforce a bonus clampdown November 3, 2009 CITY minister Lord Myners yesterday called on institutional investors to clamp down on bumper bonuses across the whole banking sector as he outlined Treasury plans to replace cash bonuses with equity-based payouts for high-earning staff at part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. RBS and Lloyds have agreed to halt all discretionary cash [...]
Widows sales are a drag on Lloyds results November 3, 2009 SCOTTISH Widows, the insurance and pensions arm of Lloyds Banking Group, yesterday said sales slumped over the first three quarters of 2009 as customers shunned its products. In an interim statement timed to coincide with official confirmation of its exit from the government’s asset protection scheme and the launch of a £21bn capital raising programme, [...]
TIMELINE: HOW BRITAIN’S BANKING SECTOR WENT SOUR November 3, 2009 21 February, 2008Britain passes legislation allowing the government to nationalise Northern Rock after rejecting two private bids. Northern Rock is nationalised months after the Bank of England stepped in to provide support. 21 AprilThe BoE unveils the Special Liquidity Scheme to swap banks' risky mortgage assets for at least £50bn of government debt. 18 SeptemberLloyds [...]
UBS unveils another loss amid reshape November 3, 2009 SWISS bank UBS has reported a third quarter loss of SFr564.4m (£337m) after being hit by a hike in accounting charges. The result means the bank has now suffered four successive quarters of losses as it restructures in the face of the credit crunch. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has been particularly badly hit by the [...]
Bank stocks ruffle the FTSE 100 as investor sentiment is hit by shake-up November 3, 2009 THE FTSE 100 briefly dipped below 5,000 for the first time in over a month yesterday, as banking stocks were hit by the shake-up of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group. Royal Bank of Scotland was the worst hit of the five large-cap banks, dipping by 15 per cent in early trading. [...]