Banking Sector Writedowns Hit $400 Billion
News that the credit crunch has hit the worldwide banking sector for some $400 billion in writedowns has shocked many experienced traders in the industry. The UK sector has faired as badly as any sector in the world with each and every major UK institution under pressure. We have seen share price of Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS all hit the skids as the pressure builds. So what does the future hold?
The majority of banks around the world have seen their asset bases reduced to rubble with many losing decades of growth in just a couple of months. Multi billion dollar rights issues, share stakes and fund raisings have all become common place as some of the best know financial companies in the land feel the pain.
While share prices have been slaughtered over the last few months we are starting to see some longer term investors look beyond the immediate pain and the economic gloom. Many are suggesting that the UK banking sector landscape is changing with more UK banks than ever before likely to be on the end of stake building, takeovers and mergers.
Quite who will survive this troubled period intact remains to be seen but the fun and games are only just starting!
Share this..
Related stories
Is the coalition government in danger?
David Davis, one of the more prominent Conservative MPs, has certainly set the cat amongst the pigeons after being overheard criticising the coalition government and comparing it to a "Brokeback coalition". So is this the first sign of cracks in the coalition government? There is no doubt that there are a significant number of MPs on both sides of the coalition government who are concerned abou...
Read MoreUK banks still short of capital
In a disappointing move for the UK banking sector and the UK government, the Bank of England still believes that many UK banks are still short of capital adequacy. This is despite the fact that billions upon billions of pounds of taxpayer's money has been poured into the sector, with little return as yet. So what exactly is going on?
While it would be wrong to suggest that the UK ba...
JJB get cash injection from Sports Direct
In a move aimed at giving JJB some financial stability in these troubled times it has been announced that Mike Ashley's Sport Direct has injected £3 million of cash into the business in exchange for an additional 5 percent stake in the operation. The deal was struck at 28.5p a share and takes the Sports Direct total stake up to 21 percent. The move was well received by the markets and the share...
Read MoreTesco to create 800 jobs in finance division
In a bid to grab a significant share of the UK finance market, Tesco has announced the opening of a banking call centre in Glasgow and the creation of 800 jobs. In a further direct attack on the UK banking sector the company will be rebranding its Tesco Personal Finance division as Tesco Bank and will in due course increase the number of products available in the UK.
This is an inte...
Hedge funds not mercenaries
Hedge funds do not deserve their mercenary reputations, the Hedge Funds Review said today.Although an expert in the field said admitted that hedge funds were certainly guilty of acting out of self-interest, he maintained that their influence was no more detrimental to their investments than that of other investors. Hedge funds have come under the press spotlight recently with rumours that the Dutc...
Read More