Government bails out UK banks

By John Hill on October 8, 2008 9:38 AM |

Tagged with:

Bank of England,
banking,
Barclays,
credit crunch,
Government,
HSBC,
Treasury

BARCLAYS and HSBC are among the UK banks who have signed up to a rescue package drawn up by the Government.

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced a £50billion measure on Monday which would make extra capital available to banks in exchange for preference shares. The Bank of England has also offered £200billion for short-term borrowing to counter the recent turmoil in the financial markets.

The two Wharf-based banks agreed to sign up to the recapitalisation scheme after talks with the Treasury this week. Other institutions involved in the scheme include Abbey, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered.

The Government confirmed it was taking the action to "ensure the stability of the financial system and to protect ordinary savers, depositors, businesses and borrowers".