Royal Bank Of Scotland Feeling The Pain
News that Zurich Financial Services has dropped out of the bidding for the Royal Bank of Scotland's insurance division has brought the UK banking group back into the limelight with concerns that the insurance sale may have to be pulled, or raise less than the £7 billion mentioned at the onset. Even though the group recently raised £12 billion from a fund raising with shareholders, and sold another division for in excess of £3 billion, there are real concerns that the groups fundamental funding position is not as strong a that of its competitors.
Slowly but surely a number of the main bidders have dropped out of the race for the insurance division, but many thought this had left the way open for Zurich to snap up the unit. However, it now looks as though the group may struggle to raise the full £7 billion, even though there are still a couple of bidders interested.
While there is no doubting the quality of the insurance division, taking in Direct Line and Churchill Insurance, it is more an issue of timing and funding for potential buyers. There are grave concerns that as Zurich walks into the sunset, the rest of the would be bidders may follow suit.
Share this..
Related stories
Greece authorities confirm budget funded until mid-March
In a bid to silence concerns within the worldwide investment markets the Greek authorities have confirmed that their budget requirements are covered up until mid-March. However, in some ways this move has backfired and effectively created a timetable for change which is very short. It is no secret that the European Union has demanded massive budget cuts from the Greek authorities in exchange for p...
Read MoreUK economic growth falters
Economic growth in the UK economy for the first quarter of 2010 has been confirmed at 0.2%, a figure which is that expected by analysts. The vast majority of economists had been expecting an increase of 0.4% over the three-month period, similar to the final three-month period of 2009, but were sadly disappointed this morning. This latest announcement casts further doubt on the strength of the UK e...
Read MoreInflation rate falls to 1.5%
16/09/2014 The annual inflation rate fell to just 1.5% in August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Some of the major factors which have resulted in the falling rate of inflation are the costs of amenities such as food and petrol, which have decreased in recent months due to a supermarket price war. The ONS, who publish the official inflation data said: “Falls in th...
Read More2013 saw 1.1m people with mortgage debt 4.5 times their income
09/10/2015 More than 1.1 million people in the UK were straddled with mortgage debts more than 4.5 times their income in 2013, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). In 2013, 1,117,000 households had mortgage debts amounting to more than 4.5 times their disposable income, which equals one in every seven houses with a mortgage. A quarter of these houses were in Lo...
Read MoreUK house prices increase in January
The Nationwide report on the UK property sector has highlighted a growing trend which has seen UK house prices increase in value over the last year. A 1.2% increase in the value of property in January, compared to December 2009, brings the total annual increase to 8.6% between January 2009 and January 2010. But what does the future hold for the UK property market? In a move which will surprise...
Read More