Lloyds bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock to be broken up
The UK government has let it be known within city circles that Lloyds bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock will all be broken up and sold off in due course, as the UK government looks to increase competition in the sector and alleviate the potential problem of overdependence on a small group of banks in the future.
While it is too early to suggest any potential takeout price for the three banking operations, when you consider that over £1.2 trillion has been poured into the UK financial sector, very soon taxpayers will want to see a return on their investment. It would appear that Northern Rock will be the first state-owned bank to be split up and sold off with a number of parties said to be interested, although Virgin Money is rumoured to be the front runner at the moment.
Even if the UK government is successful in breaking up the three banks in question there are many who fear that in due course we will see further consolidation in the sector, possibly a decade or more done down the line, and a return to the small league of powerful UK banks.
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