国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

World / Europe

UK takes 1 billion pounds hit in RBS sell-off

(Agencies) Updated: 2015-08-04 23:06

UK takes 1 billion pounds hit in RBS sell-off

A worker sweeps in the foyer of a Royal Bank of Scotland office in the City of London in this file photo. Britain started to return its holding in RBS to private investors on Monday, seven years after it bailed out the bank.[Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - Britain took a 1.1 billion pound ($1.7 billion) loss on its first sale of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on Tuesday, sparking accusations of poor timing from opposition politicians.

The UK government sold a 5.4 percent stake in RBS at 330 pence per share, a third below the price paid when Britain rescued the bank with 45.8 billion pounds of taxpayer cash at the peak of the 2007/09 financial crisis.

The move raised 2.1 billion pounds and is expected to be followed by several more sales. Overall, the government is sitting on a 15 billion pound loss on its holding, based on the current stock price and its average purchase price of 502 pence.

But the sale was more about starting the process of returning RBS to the private sector and showing investors the government is reducing its interference in the bank, rather than avoiding a loss, people familiar with the decision told Reuters.

"While the easiest thing to do would be to duck the difficult decisions and leave RBS in state hands, the right thing to do for the economy and for taxpayers is to start selling off our stake," Finance Minister George Osborne said.

But the opposition Labour Party slammed the sale.

"RBS had to be bailed out urgently, but it doesn't have to be sold off at the same speed," said Chris Leslie, its finance spokesman.

"The Chancellor (Osborne) needs to justify his haste in selling off a chunk of RBS while the bank is still awaiting a U.S. settlement for the mis-selling of sub-prime mortgages," Leslie added, referring to a potentially massive fine from U.S. authorities, related to RBS's past sales of U.S. mortgages.

RBS has set aside 2.1 billion pounds for a settlement but analysts estimate it could cost as much as 9 billion pounds, which has weighed on the stock.

The share sale, which cuts taxpayers' holding to 72.9 percent from 78.3 percent, marks a milestone in Britain's recovery from the financial crisis, and is part of Osborne's strategy to improve the country's finances.

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

Trudeau visits Sina Weibo
May gets little gasp as EU extends deadline for sufficient progress in Brexit talks
Ethiopian FM urges strengthened Ethiopia-China ties
Yemen's ex-president Saleh, relatives killed by Houthis
Most Popular
Hot Topics

...
博爱县| 修武县| 钟山县| 永顺县| 宜章县| 海盐县| 天镇县| 高台县| 仁化县| 磐石市| 江华| 禄丰县| 偃师市| 苏尼特右旗| 牟定县| 尉氏县| 内丘县| 涪陵区| 南皮县| 田林县| 时尚| 咸宁市| 手游| 清丰县| 浪卡子县| 大冶市| 甘孜| 肥城市| 昌宁县| 吕梁市| 惠东县| 两当县| 洪洞县| 漳浦县| 从江县| 安新县| 肥西县| 新化县| 永平县| 岳普湖县| 长兴县|