As the curtain falls on the ugliest set of bank results for years, UK lenders think the investment community should be zoning in on “underlying” performance instead of harping on about writedowns and capital.

Every bank was keen to point to bright spots in its operating performance. HBOS wanted to shout about fattening margins now that competition had left the mortgage market. Barclays was proud of its mega income (pre-writedowns) in investment banking. And Royal Bank of Scotland wanted to ram home the synergy benefits from last year’s purchase of ABN Amro.