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’Presenting RBS’s toxic assets
As you may have read, HM Treasury has released full details of the toxic RBS assets being guaranteed under the Asset Protection Scheme.
Annex A of the 100 page report (which was quietly put up on the HM Treasury website on Monday) provides the full breakdown of the £282bn assets being insured.
Bank windfall tax looms
According to PestoWire:
The Treasury is preparing to levy a windfall tax or super tax on British based banks, which could be announced as soon as Wednesday in the pre-budget report and would raise considerably more than £1bn a year for two or three years.
Booting the debt-buyback tax break
Clever clever Alliance Boots.
Having booked an exceptional gain of £106m last fiscal year by buying back £191m of its debt below par, it looks set to repeat the performance this year.
From the FT:
Lloyds-RBS: Fees, discounts and corporate ASBOs
You may recall a bit of a kerfuffle breaking out over the fees Lloyds would pay its advisors for its rights issue-assisted Asset Protection Scheme dodge.
So, it was interesting to see on Tuesday that the bank will pay expenses of around half a billion pounds for the services of its bankers – especially after it was reported that the fees had been slashed after the government complained.
HM Treasury refuses FOI stress test data
No surprise, really, in news that Bloomberg has had a Freedom of Information request to find out the results of the banking stress tests in the UK turned down.
This is Britain, after all.
Disclosure of the results “at this time may lead to uncertainty in financial markets,
Risk Factor 1.3
Lloyds Banking Group will publish the prospectus for its £4bn share placing on Wednesday afternoon and all eyes will be on paragraph 1.3. It covers potential changes Lloyds could be forced to make in order to get EU State Aid Approval for this share placing,
DarlingTube
He’s had a haircut, he’s looking stressed, (he’s probably a bit narked with Ed Balls, who’s apparently been briefing against him – and cabinet colleagues – for months) but here he is anyway, with a cheeky pre-budget YouTube clip on preparations for Wednesday’s budget:
Welcome to Planet Crock
The business case approved in March 2008 had been developed on assumptions made by the Northern Rock management team in the Autumn of 2007 in planning for a wind-down of the company and later as part of the management team bid,
Lloyds Banking Group – “Buy”
An unusual recommendation to come out of FT Alphaville, perhaps. But the investment case looks to be compelling – at the moment.
Ironically, it is from the statement released by Lloyds on Saturday regarding its participation in the HM Treasury’s Asset Protection Scheme (emphasis ours):
Managing UK economy: Childsplay
The Citizenship Foundation, in partnership with Norwich Union and The Times, has relaunched Chance to be Chancellor: a competition for politicians 14-19 year olds (Key Stage 3/4 and Post-16 students) which will put students in the driving seat of Public Spending – by being the Chancellor!
See here.
HMT on RBS
Treasury statement on plans for RBS (emphasis ours):
With continuing instability in the global financial markets, expected to be demonstrated by a run of poor financial results from the industry, the Government is today taking action,
Quantitative easing in the UK
It has hit. Quantitative easing has finally been discovered by the mainstream press in the UK.
Or at least, it’s finally been acknowledged as the logical next policy step from the Bank of England as rates approach zero.
An FT Alphaville link to cut out and keep
Related Links
Worst rights flop ever? – FT Alphaville
RBS promises mortgage respite – FT.com
Worst rights flop ever?
From RBS this morning:
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (“RBS”) – Result of Placing and Open Offer
28 November 2008
RBS today announces that, as at 11:00am on 25 November 2008, being the latest date for receipt of valid subscriptions,
Text PBR to 83377
Now, we all know things are a little bit tight at the moment but has it really come to this?
The Chancellor will make his Pre-Budget Report speech to the House of Commons on 24 November 2008 at 3:30pm.
The Treasury’s trauma terms
At the point of HM Bailout it was assumed that the FSA had stressed-tested British banks to Armageddon-type extremes, and so the required capital infusions to RBS, HBOS et al were designed to cover all eventualities.
“Just tell them they didn’t understand…”
The casual manner in which HM Treasury is briefing away the matter of dividend restrictions on British banks subscribing to HM Bailout is truly breathtaking.
You could read it in plenty of places on Thursday:
HM liquidity put
Quote du jour:
Bond investors are the guys that will decide the future of these banks and at the moment they’re not prepared to roll over their financing
From a Bloomberg story on Britain’s banks.
HBOS 101 (updated with closing prices)
That’s in pence.
STOP! 98. 97, 96, 98…
Down 38 per cent just before the close in London. The stock is sitting at a circa 50 per cent discount to the supposed government-backed, competition-rule-book-busting paper terms on offer from Lloyds TSB.
The Royal Bank run
In the frame, on Tuesday, RBS — shares off 30 per cent mid-morning, touching a low of 99p. The aggressive mark-down follows news form the BBC’s Robert Peston that RBS is one of three banks to have approached the British government,
Latest Northern Rock panic
There’s a fresh run on this stricken institution. But it is not on the high street – it’s in the financial markets.
Shares in Northern Rock plunged a further 22% on Thursday, the latest bout of selling sparked by a supposedly clarifying statement from HM Treasury on the extent of the government’s guarantee.