"News" wrote in message ...

On 03/04/2014 09:06, Bob Hobden wrote:
Regarding the Banks the facts are that all the money lent to the Banks
has been repaid with interest so we, as taxpayers are already in profit
on that one. The shares we own in Lloyds and RBS can and should also be
sold at a premium over what we paid (depends on the politicians) so
supporting the Banks looks increasingly like a good deal for the
taxpayer as we and the Banks come out of recession.

I'm interested to know what that rather blanket statement is based on. Does
it account, e.g., for the ongoing losses at RBS etc. - or the amounts of
cash pumped into them, the guarantees, etc. - rather than just the share
price?

Perhaps you should look at the reports of the National Audit Office -
http://www.nao.org.uk/highlights/taxpayer-support-for-uk-banks-faqs/ is a
fascinating place to start and to me, quite clearly disagrees that the
money has been repaid - let alone the amounts that would have been
repayable had the same money been used for 'normal' loans.
Due to my age I tend to only think of RBS and Lloyds as Banks, I had not
included the "new" banks, or building societies as they used to be known,
and they are a basket case 'tis true.
Looking at "Which banks received support from the UK government?" from the
above link it does appear my belief about repayment of loans by RBS and
Lloyds is correct and most of the information on that link is a year old.
Things have improved since then. My understanding is that a lot more Bad
Debts are now being repaid by borrowers than was expected (if I read the RBS
Balance Sheet correctly).
The 1 for 10 share split of RBS shares occurred on 6.6.2012 so, as you say,
what we paid for shares has to be multiplied by 10 so it works out at 502p
per share and with the current price being 318.3p it will be a while before
we can make a profit (as we did with Lloyds shares last year) but that is
down to our political masters to wait it out. If the profitability of RBS
improves, and it has every likelihood of doing so, then dividends will be
payable again on the shares we hold anyway.

There has also been a significant change in statutory liquidity requirements
for Banks for the future which will have to be met over the next few years,
by 2019 I think from memory, this should ensure such a Banking bailout
disaster does not happen again as it was lack of liquidity that caused the
need for the bailout.

-- Regards
Bob Hobden
Posting to this Newsgroup
from the W.of London. UK