The financial crisis scalps another two banks

Summer

Excellent New York Times piece. I wish someone here would write something as useful and intelligent.

richardj

Why is it that the two banks rescued by the government are both Scottish? Another taxpapers handout north of the border.

John Backhouse

I just heard Gordon Brown say that banks were irresponsible for not laying money aside in times of plenty. Incredible! He failed in exactly the same way.
Oh, and Alistair Darling is now blaming the Tories.
O Tempora! O mores!

John Miller

Brown doesn't seem to realise that he is the boy with his finger in the dyke.

Which makes a change...

Any road up, what happens in real life is that the water comes over the top of the dyke and the little boy gets washed away.

Except according to young Mr Dale, the spinners are seeding the ground for GB to retire due to ill health before the election if it all goes bad.

Mark

The BBC are saying that RBS, Lloyds TSB/HBOS are to raise the amount they lend on mortgages and to small businesses to 2007 levels.
In the case of mortgage lending, isn't that how we got here?

Nick

"On the Today programme, Alistair Darling was unwilling to say whether this would be the last intervention that was needed."

"Unwilling" is an odd choice of word. Surely the point is that Darling doesn't know, and can't possibly know, whether further intervention will be required.

It was refreshing though that Darling wasn't interviewed by John Humphrys on the Today programme and so could actually explain what was happening rather than being constantly interrupted and barracked as happened last week.

David

"Why is it that the two banks rescued by the government are both Scottish? Another taxpapers handout north of the border"

Oh for heaven's sake stop with this idiotic pseudo-bigotry.

The banks are British. British taxes are being used for British financial institutions.

tom s

Brown blames greed and risk taking for the current crisis.

He is like a builder who builds a house which then falls down. He says: Gravity is the culprit. Trust me.

Ian C

If the existing shareholders have any sense they will stump up the cash for the RBS rights issue underwritten by the government. The price of all banks assume that they are not going to get a peny from their mortgage loan books and in RBS's case the market cap by the w/e was less than the sum of the capital raised in their rights issue earlier this year.

The gove't cannot lose if it puts up the cash at these prices and will be made to look artificially clever as the share price recovers over the next 18 months. The markets are presently headless and should concentrate on what value has been thrown up by the illiquidity caused by Lehman's demise.

Bocephus

Brown says no bonuses this year for the directors of banks the government are bailing out. Er, isn't that what Cameron said at PMQ's last week and was pilloried by all and sundry, including Brown himself.

Priceless.

John Backhouse

Mark above has it right. Banks are going to be FORCED to return to 2007 levels of borrowing. How can we explain this? Madness, stupidity, ignorance? Perhaps. Or deliberate sabotage? More likely, in my opinion.
I notice that the Scottish banks have all spent the money the English put into them and now have come back to have us give them enough for some "buckie". Racist? Twaddle! We're the victims of the worst pork-barrelling in history and STILL we will doubtless hear how the poor old prudent, wise scottish have been done over by us daft southern dandies (and I speak as a Bradford lad).

JONNY

Vis-a-vis RICHARDJ
Betcha (as Ms Palin would put it)...
Betcha there are more English customers in RBS (myself included) than Scotties.
Most of us acquired or taken over (like Glyn Williams, Nat- West customers etc)
And we were doing fine until the bloody Scots went and bungled it.

Ian C

Summer - the words excellent and New York Times have a tendency not to go together. Mostly depends on whether they are staff writer or contributor. Can you provide a link?

dearieme

"Barclays has been able to raise £6.5bn without taxpayer assistance": the threat of take-over and bonus cuts works its magic, eh?

Dominic Allkins

Well that worked then...

Based on the share prices as reported on BBC market data at 15:50 RBS was down approx 15% and Lloyds TSB/HBOS an approx average of 24%.

Given the reported investments in these banks, GB and AD have just lost the taxpayer (it's not the government's money, it's ours) roughly £7bn.

All this and none of our elected representatives have had the opportunity to scrutinise these policies and debate this in Parliament.

There I was thinking we lived in a democracy! Silly me.