Were Lloyds Bank investors short-changed with HBOS?
As the acquisition of HBOS continues to unravel before our very eyes there are serious concerns that investors in Lloyds Bank have been short-changed by the acquisition. It is no secret that Gordon Brown and various regulators in the UK were very keen to see Lloyds Bank step in and save HBOS as the company was literally on the verge of collapse. However, just a few months after the acquisition has been cleared it has been revealed that the HBOS loan book is much worse than first anticipated.
This has led to a significant increase in bad debt provisions for the new enlarged Lloyds Bank group with many original Lloyds Bank shareholders left with a bitter taste in their mouths. The government has now turned round and blamed Lloyds Bank executives for their role in the takeover omitting to comment upon suggestions that the UK government was very "keen" for the merger to go ahead. A bank which for many years had a reputation as one of the most conservative and risk-free in the UK has now been brought to its knees by the disastrous HBOS acquisition.
Even though the acquisition may turn out to be a good move in the longer term, exposing Lloyds bank to different areas of financial markets and bringing in a significant number of new customers, the short to medium term outlook is anything but optimistic.
Share this..
Related stories
IBM looks to close final salary UK pension scheme
Computing giant IBM has today announced the beginning of a 60 day consultation with members of its final salary pension scheme in the UK. The 5000 members (representing about one quarter of the company's workforce) will hear plans to enhance current defined benefit payments and ultimately close the scheme altogether.
If these proposals are rubberstamped, as seems highly likely, the...
First time buyers find "new ways" to buy homes
The surge in the size of deposits has forced more and more first time buyers to club together to buy a home, according to the Home Sale Network (HSN). Over the last five years, 57 per cent of the 750 estate agents represented by the body have reported a rise in the number of first time buyers pooling their resources. The trend has been fuelled by burgeoning house price growth in this period, which...
Read MoreHated hand-me downs worth £50 million
Brits are hoarding hated hand-me-downs and inherited items worth a whopping £50 million, according to home insurance provider Abbey. Some 12 per cent of people admit to living in homes cluttered up by inherited items, with the average person owning 12 such items, worth an estimated £9,466 per person. Over half (53 per cent) hide the heirlooms around the house, while one-in-five (20 per cent) s...
Read MoreMervyn King insists UK savers have not been abandoned
The Gov of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has this evening suggested that UK savers have not been abandoned even though UK base rates have now been slashed to 1%. With more and more UK savings accounts offering 0% interest on deposits there has been a substantial increase in the pressure felt by many who depended upon their interest payments to live. More and more people are now being forced to...
Read MoreUK unemployment at 1.7 million
The number of unemployed people in Britain has risen by more than 100,000 since the beginning of 2007 to reach a total of 1.7 million.According to official government figures, the unemployment rate over the last quarter was up 0.3 per cent on last year at 5.5 per cent, with 13,000 extra jobless people recorded between January and March.But the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says that the num...
Read More