(Click on the chart for a larger image)It is a strange looking institution;
It wasn't so long ago that the FSA was threatening to investigate anyone who questioned the viability of HBOS. It was groundless rumour mongering.
Is it fair to say that without government support and the Lloyds merger that HBOS would now be bankrupt?
3 comments:
"Is it fair to say that without government support and the Lloyds merger that HBOS would now be bankrupt?" Yes. But without government interference Lloyds would probably have survived whereas now it may be doomed. As may the UK.
And if it had been left to go bust, the profitable and viable bits of it may well have been bought by someone else.
Who is it that would actually bear the physical losses if we let these failed banks go bust anyway?
The shareholders are already f@@ked. Employees would get redundancy, but not bonuses nor crazy pension awards.
I'm not so sure that aside from issues of confidence in markets, the fallout would be worse if the usual business laws applied and liquidators were appointed.
This bailout may be like one of those medical scenarios where the cure is worse than the disease.
It's a medical emergency but we spend all our efforts on those that cannot be saved, so in the end, those that can be saved die needlessly.
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