False market was small price to save the banks

The Bank of England’s year-long concealment of what was at one point a £61.6bn line of emergency finance to two of the UK’s largest banks will take some beating, writes Andrew Hill
UK banks have won surprise victory on overdraft fees on personal bank accounts after the Supreme Court ruled the fees cannot be assessed for fairness by the competition regulator
The two banks came within minutes of closing cashpoints and normal business operations, the Bank of England has confirmed, revealing that it extended £61.6bn in emergency funds at the height of the financial crisis last year
Investors expected to vote in favour of world’s largest rights issue and take up their shares within the next fortnight
The partly state-owned bank will launch the UK’s largest rights issue to raise £13.5bn, offering investors new shares at 36p each, a huge discount, ahead of a shareholder vote

The Bank of England’s year-long concealment of what was at one point a £61.6bn line of emergency finance to two of the UK’s largest banks will take some beating, writes Andrew Hill

The ‘behavioural’ conditions imposed on Royal Bank of Scotland’s global banking and markets team were part of the swamp of detail on how its competitive position should be hobbled, says Andrew Hill
UK taxpayers are offloading less risk than meets the eye in the deals with Lloyds and RBS. Their exposure is not ended, only made less visible – and provided free of charge
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning. Andrew Hill asks, who will come out best from the battle for Britain’s banks?
The UK bank’s chief executive is sticking to his mantra: the worst is behind us. But is that the case?
The UK government has much to do if its big banks are ever to operate under their own steam without government support

Chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, is set to hand the recalcitrant Lloyds Banking Group the get out of jail (almost) free card it was angling for – and a few bells and whistles, too
Stephen Hester, chief executive of RBS, has given the clearest indication yet there could be a softer landing than feared for a property industry facing up to the reality of its £225bn of outstanding debt
Thousands of investors who invested in structured products are still waiting for concrete action from the FSA, writes Ed Vaizey
Take a walk down Bank Street and follow the fortunes of some of the world’s largest banks as they navigate the global financial crisis
Examines relative size of business and government
The UK bank’s chief executive is sticking to his mantra: the worst is behind us. But is that the case?
The Treasury, desperate to bury ‘light-touch’ regulation, must have winced when Stephen Hester hailed the new ‘light-touch’ asset protection scheme
The Tories have said that if they win next year’s elections, they might sell the government’s stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and RBS to the public
From its unintended position deep within the UK banking sector labyrinth, the government is hunting for the exit signs