Search
And for the time being the HRD in the FordWe are not completely at the end of the pathAn idea of what happens inside is given outsideA decision made Sunday afternoon with the ElyseeYou come to chair the Arcep for six yearsOfmouth can be positive but also negative87991 points plunging Commerzbank of 13We structure the site with other partnersHowever at this time the law has changedManaging a business two can also be a forceFinally. After two terrible years, marked by the rise of their bad debt of British individuals, banks believe that their balance will improve. " "Most of the players in the industry see light at the end of the tunnel," is congratulated, last week, Phil Hodkinson, Chief Financial Officer of HBOS, last great British Bank to disseminate this ultimate point step before the publication of the annual accounts in March. If RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Alliance & Leicester were surprised by their positive tone, two notable exceptions remain: HSBC and Barclays have always lamented a degradation of their risks. Why this difference "These two banks have been hunting volumes and, now, they are paying the price," said a financial analyst.
"It is too early to speak of trend reversal", assured Naguib Kheraj, the Financial Director of Barclays, always penalized by the poor performance of Barclaycard, its consumer credit business. "The tendency to the increase in personal bankruptcies and quasi-faillites observed since the second half of 2005 should not improve in the medium term," added HSBC, which denounced the system of the IVA ("individual voluntary arrangement"), a legal protection that allows individuals over-indebted to pay only a small part of their credits. "There are people that encourage households to bankruptcy or to restructure their loans," it is away Michael Geoghegan, the new Director General, the first British Bank, who had spent 3.9 billion pounds of provisions for doubtful debts in the first half.
Personal bankruptcy: the flight
Since the 2004 regulatory change which simplified access to the IVA, "debts" advisors seek to disseminate this device to the chagrin of the banks, HSBC in mind, seeking greater transparency on the manner in which these providers are paid. Debt Free Direct, for example, doubled its results this year, personal bankruptcies soaring and other IVA: in the third quarter, they reached 27.644, 55 from last year. In total, these are 100,000 borrowers which could declare itself insolvent this year in Britain.
The most pessimistic argue that the phenomenon has everything to continue next year. The British the more indebted households in Europe must cope with inflation of the cost of credit, while the Bank of England comes to bring interest rates to 5 and that the prospects for a new round of monetary screws are high. Rising energy bills, University or local taxes, fees, are all factors weighing on the individual portfolios. The use of the forms of type IVA "is not a surprise", recognizes, Fred Goodwin, CEO of RBS, in view of record levels of consumer credit that exceed 1,200 billion pounds this year. It provides, however, that 2007 will be not worse on the front of bankruptcy than 2006. "HSBC comments seem better match with the returns we have RBS market than more peaceful", prevent Michael Helsby and Steven Hayne, analysts of Fox-Pitt, Kelton.
RBS who, like HSBC, is also exposed to the deterioration of the US housing market and surprised the market by announcing a "slight decrease" of its provisions. What hope for a "slightly above" annual profit of 9 billion pounds expected by analysts. HBOS, the fourth Bank in the country, provides also beat forecasts. Lloyds TSB also considers having spent the worse: even if the Bank is the second player in the market of "unsecured" loans, it ensures cut credit valves before its competitors.
