RIP investment banks, building soc. plcs. and mortgages…
Posted by robin in Financial Articles Market Commentary Wednesday October 1, 2008 5:50 pm
As the credit brunch bodies pile up, a word on some of the recently departed:
1. Investment Banks
Bear Stearns swallowed up by JP Morgan…
Merrill Lynch by Bank of America…
Lehmans goes to the wall…
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley turn into ‘boring’ banks
2. Demutualised Building Societies
Relaxing the investment rules for the US Savings and Loans Institutions ended in tears. So too the Building Society Act (1986) which allowed building societies to diversify and demutualise. They started offering cheque books and credit cards and the bigger ones got into estate agencies and life assurance (Halifax). One (Abbey National) even bought a train rolling stock operating company. Nice.
Ten listed on the stock market and last week-end’s rescue/purchase of Bradford and Bingley brings the curtain down on the last one.
Here they are in all their glory together with their current owners. Those not in government hands are split predominantly between Lloyds TSB and Banco Santander. We didn’t expect the Spanish acquisition…
| Bradford & Bingley | Nationalised (2008) |
| Northern Rock | Nationalised (2008) |
| Abbey (fmrly Abbey National) | Banco Santander (2004) |
| Alliance & Leicester | Banco Santander (2008) |
| Birmingham Midshires | Halifax (1999) |
| Bradford & Bingley | Banco Santander (2008) -branches & deposits |
| Bristol & West | Bank of Ireland (1996) |
| Cheltenham & Gloucester | Lloyds TSB (1995) |
| Halifax | Bank of Scotland (2001), Lloyds TSB pending (2008) |
| Woolwich | Barclays (2000) |
3. The UK Mortgage Market
Okay, not permanently dead just temporarily moribund. Mortgage lending is down 98% on a year ago:
| Net Lending (£bn) | |
| August 2007 | 9.1 |
| August 2008 | 0.143 |
FT 30/9/08
Latest Comments