Forums: Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyd’s of London Pulls Deposits From Banks on Debt Crisis Sept. 21 -- Lloyd’s of London, concerned European governments may be unable to support lenders in a worsening debt crisis, has pulled deposits in some peripheral economies as the European Central Bank provided dollars to one euro-area institution.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc was involved as an underwriter and an investor in Lloyds Banking Group Plc's 23.5 billion pound (US$36.1 billion) refinancing in late 2009, the Financial Times said on Thursday, citing four people involved in the capital raising. Goldman demanded last-minute changes to the structure of the transaction, the newspaper said, citing the people. This had the effect of benefiting Goldman's position as a bond investor, the newspaper said. Bankers at Goldman say the company's ethical walls bar underwriters from knowing how its proprietary traders invest, the newspaper said. Goldman was hit last Friday...

LLOYDS Banking Group is set to reveal £13 billion worth of write-offs on bad debts when it releases results for the first six months of 2009, it was reported yesterday. When group chief executive Eric Daniels unveils the interim results in August, the bank will report another huge hit on its commercial property, business and mortgage loans, despite suggestions that the worst of the recession is over. Analysts at UBS calculated the bank will see pre-tax losses of more than £6bn for the first half of the year alone. Total write-offs at Lloyds – 43 per cent owned by the...

Eric Daniels and Sir Victor Blank took Britain’s safest bank and turned it into a basketcase – and left the taxpayer on the hook tooEric Daniels’s facade slipped only for a moment, and then when it was least expected. At a low-key speech to a breakfast organised by a Jewish charity last Monday, the American chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group was clearly fighting back tears as he spoke in his distinctive, gravelly drawl. Daniels, 57, renowned for his Buddha-like calm, was under extreme pressure. He was in the middle of a desperate fight to stop the government taking control...

Vienna "Londonistan" is the nickname given to the UK capitol in 1995 by France's counterterrorism service, partly out of frustration over the safe haven that the city offers to radical Islamist groups that have been exiled from their home countries and/or other EU nations. The year 2009 began with a story that offers a whole new dimension as to how that nickname fits better than most of us would have imagined. This past week one of the major UK banks, Lloyds TBS Group, paid $350 million to New York State and U.S. Federal authorities in an out-of-court settlement. The fine...

Ten international banks, including British-based Lloyds laundered "billions of dollars" for Iran through New York banks, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced Friday. According to a report in the New York Daily News, the scheme helped Iran turn its dirty money into greenbacks, which it could then use to buy goods prohibited by international sanctions.

Interpal the controversial UK-based Palestinian charity, is facing closure after Lloyds TSB instructed the Islamic Bank of Britain to shut its bank account. Interpal (pictured), which is on a list of banned organisations in the US because of suspected links with terrorists, is also under investigation by the UK Charity Commission for the third time. The first two investigations by the Commission, which concluded in 1996 and 2003, found no evidence of any wrongdoing by the charity. The latest one, which opened in December 2006, is examining fresh concerns about the potential for inappropriate links between the charity and terrorist...

This has the potential to not only damage Interpal but also to affect community relations and cohesion in Britain," he said. "It is, at the very least, an example of the utter lack of respect faced by the Muslim community from some hostile quarters in this country." Hewitt added that IBB had offered its total support but is "apparently powerless, throwing into question the autonomy of Britan's burgeoing Islamic finance sector". In a further statement on the charity's website this week, Interpal said the Islamic Bank "remains threatened by Lloyds' demands and thus faces closure itself".

Excerpt- For Scotland's oldest bank, it was the suddenness of its rout that stunned. That and the silence at the top. That and the invisibility of leadership. That and the short-selling frenzy that descended on HBOS shares yesterday, like vultures on a corpse. This was the blackest day in Scottish banking. An appalling day of shock, confusion and disbelief. Many this morning will still be aghast at the speed of the bank's share collapse. Anger and a reckoning will come later. Today, the fate of HBOS, the savings of its 22 million customers, the prospects for its 72,000 staff and...

A man who chose "Lloyds is pants" as his telephone banking password said he found it had been changed by a member of staff to "no it's not".Steve Jetley, from Shrewsbury, said he chose the password after falling out with Lloyds TSB over insurance that came free with an account. He said he was then banned from changing it back or to another password of "Barclays is better".