UK banks have a near-£100 billion exposure to the struggling European economies currently sending shockwaves through global markets. Nerves are frayed because a sovereign debt default by Greece - and even Portugal and Spain - could rip another major hole in bank balance sheets shaken by the financial crisis. According to the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS), UK banks had a total £76.2 billion exposure to the Spanish economy in corporate and government lending at the end of September last year. They also lent £7.8 billion to Greece and £15.6 billion to Portugal, according to the BIS figures. The fears have weighed on bank stocks, with Barclays shares down almost 20 per cent in the past month. Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC have shed 16 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
Nerves are frayed because a sovereign debt default by Greece - and even Portugal and Spain - could rip another major hole in bank balance sheets shaken by the financial crisis.
According to the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS), UK banks had a total £76.2 billion exposure to the Spanish economy in corporate and government lending at the end of September last year.
They also lent £7.8 billion to Greece and £15.6 billion to Portugal, according to the BIS figures.
The fears have weighed on bank stocks, with Barclays shares down almost 20 per cent in the past month. Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC have shed 16 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
Banco Santander is selling one out of every two mortgages in Britain as the bank pushes ahead with expansion plans which could see it buying 315 Royal Bank of Scotland branches. Net mortgage lending in 2009 reached £7.6bn - estimated to be almost half the total market in 2009. That compares with its share of existing mortgages of just 13 per cent. Santander also has around 10 per cent of deposits and around 8 per cent of current accounts.
Banco Santander is selling one out of every two mortgages in Britain as the bank pushes ahead with expansion plans which could see it buying 315 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.
Net mortgage lending in 2009 reached £7.6bn - estimated to be almost half the total market in 2009. That compares with its share of existing mortgages of just 13 per cent. Santander also has around 10 per cent of deposits and around 8 per cent of current accounts.
But hey, let's just blame the PIGS. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
