• Home
• About

British banks caught overextended again

According to the British newspaper, the Daily Mail Online,

Today it emerged that:

• Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was Dubai World’s biggest loan arranger since January 2007, according to JP Morgan
• HSBC has an estimated £9.6billion in loans and advances to UAE customers
• Barclays has an exposure of around £3billion

And, according to a recent newsletter from Amnesty International on the subject of which banks are funding the production of cluster bombs,

A recent report* finds that UK high street banks are lending or providing investment banking services to cluster bomb producers to the tune of:

• – Barclays: US$274 million
• – HSBC: US$657 million
• – Royal Bank of Scotland (includes NatWest): US$64 million

*On 29 October 2009, KV Pax Christi (Netherlands) and Netwerk Vlaanderen (Belgium) launched the report ’Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: A shared responsibility‘. Find out more at stopexplosiveinvestments.org

Odd coincidence.

Amnesty International writes that an international treaty banning the production of cluster bombs was drafted in 2008 and the UK signed  it, but complains that A ban simply can’t be effective if there is still funding for the production of these weapons.

AI is calling for people who do business with these banks to reconsider, and points out that if there’s one thing banks can’t do without, it’s customers Although no doubt some folks are  working on that.

Banks, as private institutions, should, I believe, be free to invest where they want, and not be subject to government pressure. Whatever you may think about cluster bombs, or the right to invest freely where you wish, if banks are bailed out with taxpayers’ money and then turn around and continue to extend cheap credit because they have avoided any evil consequences for doing so, they they should face the full opprobrium of taxpayers and customers and share-holders. (Read the Market Ticker for a taste of what “opprobrium” sounds like. The title of his blog entry is a hint: Lying sack of dog squeeze: Blankfein).

Related articles by Zemanta

• Barclays makes £1.56bn profit but warns bad loans have not peaked (telegraph.co.uk)
• Barclays profits fall by almost a fifth in first nine months of 2009 (telegraph.co.uk)
• Barclays receives most complaints from bank customers Financial Ombudsman Service reveals. (telegraph.co.uk)
• RBS fights to keep US retail bank Citizens (telegraph.co.uk)
• OFT ruling may end free banking in Britain (telegraph.co.uk)
• Weeks ago Barclays loved Dubai debt like a tonne of bricks… (capital-chronicle.com)
• Dubai debt problems knock shares (news.bbc.co.uk)
• British banks caught overextended again (sheffnersweb.net)

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.