Corporate foreign exchange news
Foreign exchange news: RBS and Lloyds set out funding plan
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 09:33:23 GMT

RBS and Lloyds have announced plans to raise a total of £50 billion by both public and private means, with taxpayers' stake in the former set to rise from 70 per cent to 84 per cent.Meanwhile, Lloyds will enter into a debt swap agreement with the government worth £7.5 billion, while it is also embarking on a £13.5 billion rights issue.In return for the public support, both banks have agreed to sell off certain arms. Lloyds is expected to shed Cheltenham & Gloucester and Intelligent Finance, while RBS will lose RBS Sempra Commodities and its insurance business.With the new funding plan in place, RBS has overtaken Citigroup to become the costliest bank to bail out in the world.Speaking to Bloomberg, Vicky Redwood, UK economist at Capital Economics, said the announcement is likely to cause consternation among the voting public."The public are reaching the limit of how much government support for the banks they will tolerate. People are getting fed up with reports of a return to high bonuses and banks not lending," she said.

