Three years on from the Great Bonus Bailout, where is the UK taxpayer standing on their investment in the UK banks? The answer is less than encouraging. RBS shares currently trade at 23.9p, less than half of the 50.5p purchase price. And Lloyds provides a similar picture — the taxpayer got in at around 74p and now the shares languish at 35p. The taxpayer is sitting on a loss of around £35 billion at present on these two investments.
The picture at the collection of other banks that the UK taxpayer proudly owns is little better. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is the off balance sheet vehicle in which most of these investments have been tucked away. It is now expected that losses on the bailouts of Singer and Friedlander and Heritable Bank will see around 20 per cent losses, while London Scottish Bank could see losses as high as 70 per cent.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in