It has emerged this morning that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the part nationalised lender which is 84% owned by taxpayers, last month partook of the emergency funds offered by the European Central Bank through its long-term refinancing operations (LTRO).
The above can be gleaned from a recently published Morgan Stanley research note, The Telegraph reports.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that the lender borrowed a quarter of the £20bn of wholesale funding it has to replace in 2012.
No other British banks are known to have made use of the facility, although a number of European banks borrowed a total of £407bn (€489bn).
The newspaper adds that, "RBS's use of the LTRO facility is thought likely to be in relation to its Irish business where it has taken heavy losses."
It is in part precisely due to the above acute funding requirements that just yesterday the bank announced the $7.3bn sale of Aviation Capital, its aircraft-leasing business, to a Japanese financial group.
Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, another lender mentioned in that newspaper report, is also one of the biggest gainers today in Europe. Its shares are now advancing by 7.61% to €0.229.
As of 11:50am shares of Royal Bank of Scotland are leading on the top share index, moving up by 3.1% to 27.9p.
NR
-
Reeves warned against property tax shake-up – 3 ways it could backfire on first-time buyersRachel Reeves reportedly has her eye on high-end property taxes in the upcoming Budget, but there are concerns a shake-up could unintentionally hamper those trying to get on the housing ladder
-
Average Brits want to retire five years before they can – who has the widest retirement gap?Brits are expecting to work for longer than ever but there are big disparities in the number of extra working years predicted. A small tweak could help close the gap
