Word: bankes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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While there's no such trouble at HSBC or Barclays, Monday's interim results presented challenges of a different kind. Both lenders leaned heavily on lucrative investment-banking units to soften the blow from bad debts in the commercial or retail arms of the groups. Owing in part to its purchase last fall of Lehman Brothers' U.S. operations, profits at Barclays Capital doubled in the first half of the year, to $1.7 billion. The group's charges for bad debt, meanwhile, leaped by a similar rate, to some $7.7 billion. Vital to the bank in coming years: reducing its reliance...
...their efforts to expand, going without government bailouts during the depths of the crisis last fall won't have done either bank's prospects any harm. While Barclays and HSBC have both benefited from taxpayer loans or guarantees - part of a $2 trillion package of state and central-bank aid doled out to Britain's lenders - both "have worked hard on their balance sheets," says Simon Maughan, a banking analyst at MF Global brokerage in London. Having tapped Middle East investors last year in an effort to bolster its capital base, Barclays agreed in June to sell the investment unit...
...bright. Impairments at Lloyds rose to $22.8 billion in the first half, the company said Wednesday, thanks largely to its acquisition in January of HBOS, the troubled U.K. lender heavily exposed to Britain's declining property market. Still, you can't fault Lloyds' optimism. The bank, in which the government has a 43% stake, predicted "high single-digit income growth" within two years. Analysts expect a steep hike in provisions for bad loans when Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Britain's largest taxpayer-funded lender, unveils first-half results later this week. After falling to a $40 billion loss last...
...already underwater on your mortgage, there's a decent chance you will be. According to a new report from Deutsche Bank, up to 25 million American homeowners could eventually owe more than their house is worth. That would account for 48% of all mortgage holders...
...first time we've heard exceptional numbers on upside-down borrowers. First American CoreLogic figures there were already 11 million homeowners in that position at the end of last year, and Moody's Economy.com estimates we had reached 15 million by the end of March. The Deutsche Bank projection assumes that house prices nationwide will drop an additional 14%. That forecast is starker than most, and if it doesn't come to pass, the problem of underwater borrowers won't be nearly as severe. (See how Americans are spending...