Three thoughts on the bailout…
1) Should the Lloyds-HBOS deal still go ahead? Originally, Brown agreed to waive the competition concerns because HBOS might collapse on its own – but after today’s deal, there’s no danger of that. The bailout gets HBOS out of the very particular pickle it was in. As Robert Peston notes, Lloyds is suddenly looking like getting a rare chance to hoover up a third of the market, based on an promise made for reasons that are no longer valid. So this “get out of competition commission free” card which Brown gave his friend Victor Blank may be worth quite a fair bit. Hence shares of HBOS have soared by 25% today – while the rest of the FSTE100 is down 5%.
2) Gordon Brown’s government doesn’t, of course, have £50 billion.
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