Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) face huge
spends towards fines, compensation and other legal expenses, according
to Standard & Poor's (S&P). The UK's four biggest banks together
could end up paying about £19.5bn (€25.12bn, $28.46bn) in 2016 and 2017
towards the expenses, the ratings agency said.
The total amount these four banks paid to resolve the so-called
conduct and litigation issues was £55.8bn for the five-year period
starting 2010. This cost primarily relates to the penalty levied on them
for rigging foreign exchange markets and Libor.
The cost includes the compensation paid by the four banks to customers for
mis-selling payment protection insurance
(PPI), also known as credit insurance, which is a product that allows
consumers to insure repayment of credit if the borrower meets with
certain circumstances such as death, illness, job loss or others that
would prevent them from earning income to service the debt.
This amount represents a bulk of the total £62.5bn incurred by all UK
banks towards legal expenses during the same period. The rating agency
explained: "This staggering amount represents around 9% of these banks'
revenues during this period and about 90% of all conduct and litigation
charges for the UK banking system," according
to the Guardian.
S&P added that 2016 would be the "last year for mega charges" for
UK banks. "We maintain our view that 2016 will likely be the last year
for mega conduct and litigation charges. That said, we also believe that
conduct and litigation matters have become a 'way of life' for UK
banks," S&P said.
The reason behind its belief was partly because the PPI scandal,
which had totalled £34bn, was expected to ease off. "We do not believe
that future retail conduct redress, including relatively new issues such
as packaged bank accounts, will come close to the scale of PPI," the
ratings agency added.
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