Intersting quote on the bbc website yu link to, TG
He said: "It will mean that every building society that floated on the stock market in the wave of demutualisations of the past two decades will either have collapsed or been sold to a conventional bank."
That was a really successful policy, wasn't it? Gave everyone a bit more spare cash to pump into the economy whilst destroying the culture of mutuality, care, savings and understanding local conditions, whcih had worked exceptionally well for the last 150 odd years.
supposing you had an account with the chesire building scoiety and/or derbyshire building soicety recently. both hoovered up by the nationwide at the request of the FSA. No payout to members
I understand, just in the last 12 months both boards have turned down merger proposals which would have been bonus city for all members, saying their finances were fine and they would be better alone
I understand the nature of the CC, but still, I could have wasted some more money on a carbon road bike I don't need
I had to try really hard to stop myself giggling like a loon at some braying twat I was speaking to in the pub on Friday night who was boasting how he had 'cleverly' bought £250 worth of B&B shares.
Told every single person he encountered and kept going on about how much financial acumen he has.
I'm not gonna pretend I'm an economics whizz but I wanna see Bradford and bingley saved and bought out by the new lloyds tsb Halifax Royal Bank of Scotland. Just to see them fit it all in a sign, even abbreviated would be worth it. LTSBHBOSBAB.
TG, at this point nationalisation is almost certainly the best course for a bank like B&B. The state will always end up with the downside risk in these situations, at least nationalisation allows it to get the upside as well.
Contrast the original Paulson plan in the US, which would have left the upside to the banks.
Nefertiti makes an interesting point about the social aspects of the crisis, which in many ways parallel those of the US "savings and loan" crisis of the late 80s. While they obviously operate on a differnt scale, there is a lesson to be learned from the fact that informal, culturally-based lending networks (like those common in the Islamic world or Korean or Taiwanese friends and family groups) have proven much more resilient than massive commercial and investment banks (see also the Benelux governments putting 11 billion euro into Fortis over the weekend). The fact that the networks never severed the bond between their members and those making decisions is a big part of that.
Also OTF's favourite supermarket the John Lewis group is also in trouble.
Define "trouble". Down the pan trouble or profits cut through belt tightening trouble?
Because I'll be pissed off if they go down because their department stores shit all over most others and also I'll be blowed if I ever buying any of the colossal tat masquerading as furniture that IKEA or Argos have on show again.
So, as I understand it, the savings & branches bit of B&B is being flogged to Santander, whereas HM Government is holding on to the buy-to-let mortgages so wisely lent.
We seem to have ended up with the grotesque farce of a Labour government - a Labour government - funding buy-to-let mortgages for well-off folks to make a living off the backs of those unable to afford a place of their own.
CTT and others are right, my comment about the upside was based on this morning's reports available here, before the Santander part of the deal was public.
There is still some upside in the mortgage portfolio, but Santander is likely getting a very good deal on what they've bought.
Santander are loving this crisis - John Paulson referenced it as Southern European banks being happy to escape through their highly inefficient banking system. (He also proposed a ridiculously non-viable solution with preferred equity stakes that a man short the banks would obviously love)
With B&B vs the Hank Paulson solution, I think it is an apples and oranges comparison. The US seems to be focused on rescuing the international capital markets (so, the IB's), and has followed identical models to B&B with WaMu and Wachovia.
Santander shares are a pain in the arse, though. Spanish withholding tax on the dividends and the share Registrars (Equiniti, why protect the guilty) give a whole new meaning to the word incompetent.
Abbey employees said very much the same of the logo when it first arrived. I always thought it looked more like an iced gem.
The winner in bad bank logos has to be the Cat's Asshole, RBS. Maybe they can get the St Andrew's flag now Bank of Scotland is likely to disappear (unless Lloyds, having trashed the TSB name have a weird change of heart).
I thought it was interesting that all of the press releases from Her Majesty's Government on that part of the B&B situation referred to Abbey instead of Santander.
I guess they didn't want to scare the Daily Mail.
Or maybe they still think that Abbey is independent.
Both RBS and Santander are big sponsors of Formula One (as are ING and their intellectually-challenged lion), though at least the Spaniard keep the turd off of the car.
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