Lloyds, Royal Bank take separate paths (Dealscape

If, in happier times to come, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and Lloyds Banking Group plc commission historians to write books about the vicissitudes of their corporate lives, they will face difficult questions about the years 2008 and 2009. Lloyds executives might advise their writer to exercise a certain sensitivity. Their Royal Bank counterparts might hope their historian ditches the archives for the period altogether.

As a sweeping overhaul of the U.K. banking sector got under way Tuesday -- it includes £31.2 billion ($51 billion) of capital from the Treasury and European Commission-mandated asset disposals -- Lloyds avoided the most painful blows, many of which fell squarely on Royal Bank. Lloyds could be seen making real progress in various lines of business, and regulators chose not to punish it for receiving state aid. It has avoided the asset protection scheme for the insurance of toxic assets and, despite a large fundraising by the bank, the government is not lifting its stake from 43.4%. Nor has Lloyds been asked to make especially large disposals. As Ian Gordon, a banking analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, wrote in a note on Tuesday, "It appears strange that Lloyds is only required to sell (within four years) a selection of assets -- a small number of branches in England & Wales, the failed [Intelligent Finance] internet bank and Lloyds TSB branches in Scotland -- all of which it might well have chosen to sell anyway."

This is a free content preview. Subscribers enjoy access to all stories in full as well as second-to-none market intelligence.

Dig deeper, with Pipeline.

133 in-depth transaction records for Royal Bank of Scotland
133 in-depth records of Bankruptcy warnings in the Financial Services sector
66 company pages related to Scotland
13 in-depth transaction records for Lloyds Banking Group plc
10 years of news and analysis archives from the voice of The Deal Economy

Most searched keywords

Deutsche Bank
Birds Eye
Cadbury AG
Agrium Inc.
Skadden Arps
Revolution Money
Tandberg ASA
Aisling Capital
Ken Lewis
Natco

Forward-looking intelligence allows you time to act. View this video on our restructuring content to see how you can benefit from our expertise.
NOT A SUBSCRIBER? Lloyds, Royal Bank take separate paths Posted on November 3, 2009 2:30 PM If, in happier times to come, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and Lloyds Banking Group plc commission historians to write books about the vicissitudes of their corporate lives, they will face difficult questions about the years 2008 and 2009. Lloyds executives might advise their writer to exercise a certain sensitivity. Their Royal Bank counterparts might hope their historian ditches the archives for the period altogether. As a sweeping overhaul of the U.K. banking sector got under way Tuesday -- it includes £31.2 billion ($51 billion) of capital from the Treasury and European Commission-mandated asset disposals -- Lloyds avoided the most painful blows, many of which fell squarely on Royal Bank. Lloyds could be seen making real progress in various lines of business, and regulators chose not to punish it for receiving state aid. It has avoided the asset protection scheme for the insurance of toxic assets and, despite a large fundraising by the bank, the government is not lifting its stake from 43.4%. Nor has Lloyds been asked to make especially large disposals. As Ian Gordon, a banking analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, wrote in a note on Tuesday, "It appears strange that Lloyds is only required to sell (within four years) a selection of assets -- a small number of branches in England & Wales, the failed [Intelligent Finance] internet bank and Lloyds TSB branches in Scotland -- all of which it might well have chosen to sell anyway." This is a free content preview. Subscribers enjoy access to all stories in full as well as second-to-none market intelligence. Dig deeper, with Pipeline. 133 in-depth transaction records for Royal Bank of Scotland 133 in-depth records of Bankruptcy warnings in the Financial Services sector 66 company pages related to Scotland 13 in-depth transaction records for Lloyds Banking Group plc 10 years of news and analysis archives from the voice of The Deal Economy Most searched keywords Deutsche Bank Birds Eye Cadbury AG Agrium Inc. Skadden Arps Revolution Money Tandberg ASA Aisling Capital Ken Lewis Natco		EXISTING USERS Username Password Forget your password? Missing a product?

Sales Contact Michael Crosby mcrosby@thedeal.com 212.313.9325	Media Contact Martha Brown mbrown@thedeal.com 212.313.9218
Signing in signifies that you agree to our terms and conditions. View our privacy policy.