Yesterday news.....

EU Said to Tell Lloyds to Sell 3.7 Million Accounts (Update2)
By Jon Menon

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union told LloydsBanking Group Plc to relinquish about 3.7 million consumer checking accounts to secure approval of the banks government rescue, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Lloyds has been told by the European Commission to cut its share of British checking accounts to 25 percent from 30 percent today, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential. The bank has about 22 million checking accounts. Lloyds is still deciding how to achieve the reduction, and may sell branches or assets to comply, the person said. The bank, which has about 3,000 branches, would seek to make a profit from any sales, the person added.

Lloyds, 43 percent government-owned, accepted a total of 17 billion pounds ($27 billion) from U.K. taxpayers following its acquisition of HBOS Plc, which made the countrys biggest provider of checking accounts the top mortgage lender. The bank is in talks to insure as much as 260 billion pounds of risky assets with the governments Asset Protection Scheme.

We are working closely with the government and the European Commission on the issue of EU state aid, a Lloyds spokesman said in an e-mailed statement. A Treasury official said negotiations are continuing. Jonathan Todd, a European Commission spokesman said the figure was premature speculation.

The bank may also seek to raise 5 billion pounds to 7 billion pounds in a share sale in November, said the person.

Consumer Detriment

Any Lloyds restructuring plan should address competition concerns in retail banking, European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said yesterday.

Government aid shouldnt allow the bank to reinforce and consolidate its leading position on markets which are already concentrated, to the detriment of consumers and competitors, Kroes told the European Parliament in Brussels.

Companies can appeal against EU state aid decisions at the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg.

Lloyds declined 1.1 percent to 103.7 pence, reducing its gain this year to 10 percent and its market value to 28.2 billion pounds.

A cut in checking accounts and business banking could cost the bank between 500 million pounds and 1.1 billion pounds in earnings, Simon Pilkington, an analyst at JPMorgan Cazenove Ltd. in London, estimated today in a note to investors. Lloyds will have five years to implement any sanctions, Pilkington wrote.

The consumer banking unit of Lloyds made a profit of 360 million pounds in the first half of the year as other units including corporate banking made a loss. As a whole, Lloyds posted a first-half loss of 3.1 billion pounds after setting aside 13.4 billion pounds, largely for souring commercial and real estate loans.

Lending Pledges

Lloyds is continuing discussions with the Treasury about the APS, and may seek to reduce the amount insured from 260 billion pounds, or exit the program altogether, the bank said Sept. 18. Even so, the bank may stand by pledges made to the government in March, when it agreed to raise U.K. lending by 28 billion pounds over two years, the person said.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britains biggest government-controlled bank, may be forced by the EU to reduce its share of small-business lending, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said at a conference in London yesterday.

While a sale will be disruptive to clients, its unlikely to be a major shareholder event, he told the conference organized by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Banks have only revealed half of their writedowns

30 September 2009

Banks still have another $1.5 trillion of asset write-downs to declare on top of the $1.3 trillion already recognised, the International Monetary Fund warned today.

Continued weakness in the banking sector threatens to derail the nascent global economy, with banks not yet in any position to significantly boost lending, the latest IMF report warns.

Banks will have to repair their balance sheets before they can advance sufficient loans to support sustained economic growth, the IMF says in its latest Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR).

But without a healthy banking sector the economic recovery could yet stall, it warns.

Even though bank earnings are recovering, they are not expected to be big enough to offset fully the anticipated writedowns over the next 18 months, the report said.

The insufficient earnings, combined with continuing deleveraging pressure, means banks will have to raise more capital.

Banks must refinance an unprecedented $1.5 trillion in maturing debt in the euro area, UK and USA over the next two to three years, the IMF predicts, which in turn will further restrict their ability to lend.

take any profit now as tabasco said a week or so ago........going down going down

for the record, my comments were not racist......was just highlighting llloy are run by idiots or corrupt people with a track record of failure as in bischoff.

your comments however are HIGHLY offensive and disgraceful master MRSA

re - going down going down

We know who sold at 66p or so

Only a silly COW like you - marni - could do such a mistake, and now "SOUR GRAPES"

i never had any in 1st place, get ur facts right. i dont buy companies that are known to have corrupt people.

re - HIGHLY offensive and disgraceful

That is the idea to put you down like a rabies DOG, that is how you behave, no idea what so ever, of what to buy, when to sell and still want to say: ......

Hi I am - marni - the silly COW, wanting to be slaughtered , cos I think I have a touch of "mad COW disease"

re - i never had any in 1st place

-marni a LIER on top

every one know you bough at 60p and sold for a 10% PROFIT after changing your mind a dozen times.

Well that is what you said, and my memory is very good not like others "Dill" one example

to refress you memory I done a copy and paste of the above a couple weeks back

thats it blame everyone else for bad decisions you make master.......you annoy others too like dil, tabasco, lawrence etc

FTSE 100 5,109.6 -24.3

MIDDAY REPORT: Headline shares quickly relinquished opening gains as a disappointing PMI reading dented fragile sentiment, with a buoyant insurance sector managing to limit losses, but BAE Systems the biggest faller as bribery charges loom.

Financial issues were alread firmly in focus today, following reports that the big UK banks have pledged to sign up to bonus pay restrictions, ahead of legislation, although reports that Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland had moved large sums to cover losses in their Irish property investments were not well-received.

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group fell 2p at 101.7p and RBS slipped 1.15p at 51.8p. Others followed the lead, with Barclays off 5.75p at 364.24p and HSBC down 6.9p at 709.1p.

marni

Maybe after all you are your own enemy, or maybe just a - a barking DOG -

THERE ARE A FEW NUTTERS ABOUT
Any listening at your peril

They have nothing else to do when not holding the stock than going around spreading all types of rubish,
mind you their rubish bin is full but they spend all day smelling that putrefaction while posting here

marni

do you remember the post below?, the shares were under 70p then , after you sold for a 10% profit,
and RBS have well underperformed LLOY since


Master RSI - 24 Jul 2009 12:45 - 446 of 862
marni

Are you out? .... YES>>>>>>>>>>>>> someone would say: get lost to the shares thread ...RBS that you said would buy on selling LLOY.

Why?
You are acting like those that once sold become negative, so not worth posting.

children, children, children...................behave!

Are you all having a bad day.

There is the naughty step for you to rest on?

Are you all having a bad day?

There is the naughty step for you to rest on!

RSI ... why do you insist on coming across as such an unlikeable tw*t ?

DIL

are you trying to provoke me?

        HERE IS THE TRUTH

C#NTS like you can be find not only in WALES but anywhere on the Business threads.

I take the world if necesary, when I am right.

you are just a small pea on the big ball.

you have like many others, come here apporting nothing but Bull SHIT.

I am here from the beguining of the turn around, doubling my investment money

Just give me a proper answer to that or what are you doing here.
Then maybe I will answer again so far is a waste of time, apart from being a ....... you know the word, I say it before.

Why do we bother reading this crap.... ian ban the lot.

Ban reading!

Ban the Market!

Ban everything and everybody!

Ban all those English who are peculiar.

Ball all peculiar English.