UK banks 'to ask for up to £40bn'
Four of Britain's biggest banks will ask for up to £40bn of taxpayers' money as capital to boost their balance sheets, the BBC has learned.
Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays are locked in talks with the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority.
An announcement is planned before the markets open on Monday, according to BBC business editor Robert Peston.
The chief executive of RBS, Sir Fred Goodwin, is expected to resign.
A key aspect of the announcements will be what the government requires the banks to do in return for the cash.
Specifics
"What we're doing over the weekend is looking at specifics, how do we implement it," Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, told the BBC on Saturday.
"We'll be making an announcement at the beginning of the week," he added.
What a sorry end to Britain's longest ever period of unbroken economic growth
Robert Peston, BBC business editor
The government is not expected to insist on having its own appointees on the boards of the banks, although other strings are likely to be attached.
These could involve curbing executive pay and resuming normal lending to individuals and small businesses.
'Case-by-case'
Mr Peston said RBS is likely to raise at least £15bn, while HBOS will be obliged to raise £10bn.
He said Barclays was under pressure from the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services authority to raise up to £7bn.
The government has said that it will negotiate terms individually with each bank that participates in the scheme.
"What we're doing now is talking with all of the banks about how we implement the programme," Yvette Cooper, chief secretary to the Treasury also told the BBC.
"We'll set out the sort of strings that will be attached on a case-by-case basis," she added.
Voting rights
The chief executive of RBS, Sir Fred Goodwin, is expected to resign to be replaced by Stephen Hester, the former finance director of Abbey who is currently chief executive of British Land.
Earlier in the year, RBS raised £12bn from its shareholders, which is now more than the bank is worth on the stock exchange.
Banks trying to raise new capital as part of the scheme may choose to approach their own shareholders again instead of taking part of the government's £50bn.
If they go to their existing shareholders for funding, the government has said it will underwrite the issues, which means that if all of the shares on offer are not sold then it will step in and buy them.
That means that the government could end up owning large stakes in the banks and having extensive voting rights.
Hefty falls
This would be different to the preference shares that the government would get for additional capital.
The difference is that normal shares carry voting rights while preference shares do not, but preference shareholders, as the name suggests, get access to any money that a company makes before the normal shareholders.
If the agreements are reached ahead of trading on Monday morning, it will be just another factor for investors to take into account following the huge falls on stock markets last week.
The FTSE 100 in London fell 21.1% during the week, its worst weekly fall since the crash of 1987.
The Dow Jones in New York fell 18% in the week while the Dax in Frankfurt fell 21.6%.
Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Business | UK banks 'to ask for up to £40bn'
Published: 2008/10/12 17:47:55 GMT
