Banks to be part-nationalized in Britain | India Gazette

Banks to be part-nationalized in Britain

India Gazette Wednesday 8th October, 2008

The British government has moved to partly nationalize major banks, with taxpayers taking a share stake.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a news conference the government help would shore up a financial sector that many investors feared could not survive the global turmoil.

He said: 'This is not a time for conventional thinking or outdated dogma but for the fresh and innovative intervention.'

A half hour before markets opened Wednesday, the Treasury said it would be investing up to 50 billion pounds in exchange for preference shares in eight of the county's largest banks and building societies: Abbey National, Barclays, HBOS, HSBC Bank, Lloyds TSB Bank, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank.

Treasurer Alistair Darling told reporters: 'We are not talking about running the banks. The banks will still run as commercial operations, albeit with government help in restructuring.'

Darling also announced that the government would guarantee British savers' accounts in Icesave, the Internet operation of Iceland's Landsbanki which was nationalized on Tuesday.