October 7 2008 22:32
The decision to press ahead with a state-sponsored recapitalisation of Britain’s banks was made after a day on which
Royal Bank of Scotland became the latest UK lender to find itself in the market spotlight.
Shares in RBS plunged 39 per cent to 90p amid concerns that the bank faced a pressing need for fresh capital and that it might also face difficulties in accessing wholesale funding if the current freeze in the money markets persists. RBS shares closed at their lowest level for 15 years, valuing the bank’s shares at less than £15bn – little more than the £12bn it raised through a rights issue earlier this year.
Analysts were at a loss to explain the reason for the sharp drop, which was much greater than that experienced by Barclays and Lloyds TSB, which are also expected to participate in the government recapitalisation. “It seems strange that RBS has fallen more than Barclays but there is a vacuum of news,” said Alex Potter, analyst at Collins Stewart.
Despite its rights issue, RBS still has one of the lowest core Tier One ratios – a key measure of balance sheet strength – of the UK banks and had been hoping to sell its insurance division, which includes Direct Line to bolster its capital ratios. That sale has not yet materialised.
The drop also came a day after Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, lowered RBS’s credit ratings. “A combination of mixed earnings prospects, deteriorating credit risk in its key geographies, and difficult market conditions in which to complete its capital transformation plan leaves RBS less well positioned than some of its major global peers,” S&P argued.
The cost of insuring RBS’s debt against default also increased as the markets discounted the increased possibility that the bank might run into difficulties.
Mike Trippett, an analyst at Oriel Securities, said: “It does appear that RBS’s fall today is almost fully discounting capital-raising to support both increased asset growth and balance sheet restoration.”
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