Big G - I blame you !

[Wij]

Never should have merged

 

[TdC]

ooo sounds dirteh o0

 

[DaGaffer]

And now you have 3 banks fighting. Good luck with that.

 

[Will]

No more Howard?

 

[Ch3tan]

No more Howard?

We can only hope. That black horse (or train now) is annoying, but Howard gives me brain ache.

 

[MYstIC G]

No more Howard?

That or cowboy Howard on his black stallion... *shudder*

 

[Ch3tan]

Why did you go there meg. You cruel bastard. I swear if that idea ever gets back to halifax, I will hunt you down and shave your shoulders.

 

[russell]

*smacks MysticG*



(only gently)

 

[TdC]

ooo sounds dirteh o0

ooo

 

[bob269]

 

[old.user4556]

Bad times

What is getting to me about the whole thing is the vast mountains of absolute bullshit that has been coming out the papers and the media.

One bad word in one Analyst's ear and a whole company can be sent down the tubes in a matter of days.

I have absolutely no idea where/when this financial melt down going to end.

 

[russell]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Furr]

We're going to end up with a handful of mega-corps after this all finishes, governments can't keep bailing all the collapsing companies out and now competition rules are being overlooked.

Anyway! So what? Is HBOS going to be absorbed into Lloyds TSB? Will the Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Halifax estate agents on the high street be streamlined into one company? Lloydifax TSB and Estates?

Also doesn't this make them one of the biggest banks in the world now?

 

[bob269]

Also doesn't this make them one of the biggest banks in the world now?

I don't think they are as big as those fannies in America

 

[Wij]

"...and I, for one, welcome our new Lloyds TSB overlords."

 

[throdgrain]

Also doesn't this make them one of the biggest banks in the world now?

I dont think it even makes it top 10. Barclays is the biggest British bank, I think its ranked 9th or 7th in the world, one or the other.

 

[DaGaffer]

I dont think it even makes it top 10. Barclays is the biggest British bank, I think its ranked 9th or 7th in the world, one or the other.

Actually...

 

[old.user4556]

nah throd, HSBC is the biggest UK bank.

 

[Ch3tan]

it's 20th according to gaffers link, and barclays is 4th, with rbos 1st.

 

[old.user4556]

The world's biggest banks | The Economist

Graded by tier 1 (most reliable indicator).

The table in Gaff's link also puts BoS as a bigger bank than HSBC which is laughable.

 

[old.user4556]

Some more financial articles on HSBC:

HSBC is now the world?s largest bank | Investment and Business News

BBC NEWS | Business | HSBC in $17bn credit crisis loss

I feel somewhat proud that the world's biggest bank is also a UK bank.

 

[DaGaffer]

Which just shows that banks are good at fiddling with the figures as both my link and G's seem to agree with each other (both saying RBS is largest in terms of assets). Makes you wonder how HSBC can be first and 20th depending on which measure you choose...

 

[Chilly]

citi was the worlds biggest, I heard?

Frankly any measure you take right now will be largely meaningless due to the vast amount of worthless assets held, potentially outside of us or eu jurisdictions, which do not appear on public reports.

Going on market cap alone the banks have lost masses of value.

 

[old.user4556]

Amused me.

BASTARD AMERICANS RUIN YOUR LIFE - The Daily Mash

 

[Scouse]

Amused me.

BASTARD AMERICANS RUIN YOUR LIFE - The Daily Mash

Nice

TBFH tho I'd rather they let them go to the wall...

Edit: This one's too fucking funny to miss tho

 

[old.user4556]

BBC NEWS | Business | Lloyds TSB approves HBOS takeover

Well, half way there.

Lloyds shares have slid to an all time low, I wish the media would stop peddling them as some sort of saviour because they're not far behind on diarrhea drive without a seat belt.

 

[Wij]

Our shares seemed to take a dive when we annouced our board had approved the deal. Pattern perhaps ?

 

[old.user4556]

Outperformed the FTSE, will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when the markets open.

Edit: outperformed *today* I should add

 

[Wij]

10 billion losses.

Fuxake !!

7 billion from Corporate. I remember a couple of years ago when we were given the direction that projects for Corporate would be given priority cos they were the ones making all the money

Smug bastards.

 

[old.user4556]

No corporation tax to pay on a loss. Great scam .

I can't quantify the scale of "fuck-uppery", although lets just say I simply don't take any management seriously when the people running the banks, the regulators, the treasury, the BoE and the country get it so biblically and humiliatingly wrong.