Loan agreement

Confusion surrounds the meaning of the government's "agreement" that some of the UK's High Street banks should restore their mortgage lending to 2007 levels. Sir Tom McKillop said references to lending in 2007 were not precise The government is taking a 60% stake in RBS, which owns NatWest, and a 40% stake in the soon-to-be-merged Lloyds TSB/HBOS. That is in return for an emergency bailout, worth £20bn for RBS NatWest alone, to stop any possibility that the banks might eventually go bust. The RBS chairman, Sir Tom McKillop, told a telephone news conference he was enormously appreciative of the government's support, at what he called a "dangerous moment." Commitment? One of the commitments that the banks have given in return for the taxpayers' money involves: "maintaining, over the next three years, the availability and active... [read full story]