HBOS Calls It A Day On 53 Estate Agency Branches
News that HBOS has closed down 53 of its Halifax estate agency branches was not totally unexpected but may not be the last of the closures. The move has resulted in 100 job losses with news that elsewhere in the group 450 employees have been relocated to different areas of the company. While this news is still being digested it also seems as though HBOS will consider 'selective asset disposals' in order to stop the haemorrhaging of cash the group has seen over the last few months.
Profits for the group have been slashed and business looks as though it will get worse before it improves. As the Halifax area of the group has massive exposure to the housing market this is an area which has felt the brunt of the recent changes.
For the last 20 years the main UK banks have enjoyed a relatively untroubled period of expansion which has seen them buy in exposure from all corners of the globe. However, it is only just not that we are seeing the underlying strength or weakness of these acquisitions. The HBOS which we see before us today will be a very different animal by the time the economy bounces back.
Share this..
Related stories
HM Revenue and Customs signals of softer approach
HM Revenue and Customs has surprised many in the marketplace by suggesting that tax investigators will take a "softer" approach to various tax disputes in the future. It is believed that a massive, and growing, backlog of legal action by HM Revenue and Customs is behind the new softer approach. So what does this mean for businesses and consumers? It is highly likely that disputed tax cases will...
Read MoreWill UK consumers ever learn?
The revelation that "shopaholics" in the UK have amassed unsecured debts of £24 billion during the latest economic downturn, are as amazing as they are shocking. It seems that more consumers than ever before are literally spending beyond their means in the hope that a future economic revival will "bail them out". Unfortunately for many UK consumers the much sought-after economic recovery will...
Read MoreAre you dipping into your savings?
A number of recent surveys have suggested that more and more people in the UK are now being forced to dip into their savings to cover their traditional monthly living expenses. This is a worrying sign for the UK economy because ultimately any reduction in disposable income, i.e. income left after living expenses have been deducted, means there is less to invest in the UK economy which will impact...
Read MoreUK government monitoring bank lending
The UK government has today stepped into the limelight with regards to bank lending and warned the UK banking arena that lending to small, medium and large sized businesses must improve. This comes at a time when the UK government is looking towards the small business arena to take up any slack left by reductions in the public sector budget, something this has not been happening of late. So will t...
Read MoreBT challenges union strike ballot
Just hours before the Communication Workers Union was due to release the result of a strike ballot amongst BT employees the union was forced to call off the announcement after BT won a legal challenge questioning the legality of the action. It is unclear on what terms the strike action was challenged but a legal technicality would appear to have scuppered union plans to bring down BT in the short...
Read More