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UK's top banks set to take £1bn mis-selling hit
on 24/07/2012 08:56:06
Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland will all disclose additional charges for the period between April and June in their half-year results.
Lloyds and HSBC, which report on Thursday and Monday respectively, will say that they set aside more than their PPI provisions for the first quarter of £375m (€481.3m) and £300m (€385m), Sky News said.
RBS is expected to confirm that it is making a further allocation similar to its £125m (€160.43m) first-quarter charge when it reports on August 3, while only Barclays is expected to allocate a smaller sum than its earlier £300m (€385m) provision on Friday.
The latest figures will underline the serious impact the mis-selling scandal has had on Britain's biggest banks and comes amid calls for an overhaul of the industry's culture and business practices following the rate-rigging scandal.
Britain's top lenders have also been accused of mis-selling complex interest rate hedging products - known as swaps - and have agreed to pay compensation.
Taxpayer-backed Lloyds will have paid out at least £4bn (€5.13bn) alone for its mis-selling activity and will face questions over its involvement in the Libor-fixing scandal when it reports on Thursday.
Lloyds has previously admitted to "assisting the regulators" with their Libor investigations but would not comment further.
If the Financial Services Authority uncovers evidence of rate-rigging, the bank could face a multi-million pound fine, possible compensation claims and reputational damage.
But despite the difficult climate the bank is set to announce broadly flat underlying pre-tax profits of £1bn (€1.28bn) for the first six months of the year.
Meanwhile, Barclays has endured one of the most turbulent periods in its history after it was fined £290m (€372.2m) by UK and US regulators for manipulating the Libor.
The affair led to the departure of chief executive Bob Diamond, triggered a fierce debate in Westminster over banking ethics and has spawned several closely-watched hearings before the Treasury Select Committee.
Marcus Agius, who will resign once a successor for Mr Diamond is found, will present the group's interim results in his temporary role as executive chairman.
He will hope the figures, which are forecast to show a 10% rise in underlying profits, to £4.1bn (€5.26bn), will go some way towards appeasing investors, who have seen the share price plunge 20% since the scandal broke.
