Is the Time to Invest in Banks approaching?

sabretoothtigger

barclays wrote:

19/08/09 11:00 Interim ex-dividend date Interim 2009 Ex-dividend date
03/08/09 10:00 1H (Interims) Interim 2009 Results
03/08/09 10:00 Earnings Conference Call/Webcast for Investor Interim 2009 Earnings conference call
03/08/09 10:00 US Major Events Barclays interim results * Barclays shareholders are expected to vote early this month on proposed £8.2bn sale of Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock, a deal announced in June & expected to be comp

Ex div but they wont pay out anything afaik, no shares even. Next year they will is what ive read

http://www.investorresearch.mdgms.com/factsheet/factsheet.html?ID_NOTATION=9454489

sabretoothtigger

U.K. bank Barclays PLC (BCS) Monday said first-half net profit rose 10%, as investment banking fees and trading gains offset higher credit-market provisions and weaker performance in its retail arm, and said it expects the rest of the year to be challenging.
Net profit for the six months ended June 30 was GBP1.89 billion, up from GBP1.72 billion in the same period last year. The result was lower than the GBP1.96 billion average net profit expected by five analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
Barclays became the latest global bank to report higher earnings due to investment banking operations. Credit Suisse AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Deutsche Bank AG (DB) also said that their investment banking units help solidify first-half performance.
The company said it expects the rest of 2009 to be challenging, "with continuing recession in many of the economies in which we are represented."
"The environment has remained very difficult in 2009 as a consequence of the onset during 2008 of economic recession in most parts of the world in which we operate. But we were nonetheless solidly profitable," Chief Executive John Varley said.
"As we navigate 2009, our governing objectives are unchanged. They are - staying close to our customers and clients, managing our risk and maintaining strategic momentum," Varley said.
The biggest chunk, or 35%, of pretax profits came from the bank's Barclays Capital investment banking division, which has boosted revenue this year from higher customer volumes in areas including interest rates and currencies, and capital markets activity such as underwriting bond sales.
But as the investment bank bounced back from a weak 2008, bread-and-butter lending to retail and commercial customers was hit by rising impairments on corporate and consumer loans.
The results were helped by the acquisition and integration of North American assets acquired from Lehman Brothers, the bank said. Barclays President Robert Diamond said the good performance of investment banking arm Barclays Capital is sustainable.
Group pretax profit for the six months ended June 30 was GBP2.98 billion, up 8% from GBP2.75 billion previously, but lower than the GBP3.6 billion average pretax profit forecast by six analysts.
Barclays shares have doubled this year as concerns about further bank collapses and a prolonged recession receded. U.S. banks' strong second-quarter earnings last month, driven by investment banking, also raised expectations that Barclays would be a big beneficiary of market activity.
The bank isn't paying dividends in the first half. In the first half of last year, it paid 11.5 pence a share. It said it intends to resume paying dividends before the end of the year.
At 0754 GMT, Barclays shares were up 3.1% at 312 pence while the FTSE100 index was up 0.6%.
Analysts from Shore Capital Stockbrokers said Barclays gave "a decent update" and said "strong balance sheet management" was a key positive." It said the pretax profit was slightly ahead its GBP2.8 billion forecast. Shore Capital kept its buy rating on the stock.
At a briefing, Varley said the bank is witnessing some signs that the rate of growth of its bad debts is slowing.
"In some of our loan books, we've seen the rate of deterioration reducing and some signs of stabilization," Varley told reporters.
"I don't want to overstate it because if you think about unemployment, for example, unemployment will rise in many of the economies where we do business and unemployment has a lagging effect on bad debts. But the rate of deterioration has moderated," Varley said.
The bank's impairment charges and other credit provisions in the first half of the year rose to GBP4.56 billion from GBP2.45 billion in the first half of 2008. The result was higher than the GBP4.32 billion average expected by six analysts surveyed.
Varley also said a review on the company's remuneration policy is ongoing.
Company Web site: http://www.barclays.com

-By Vladimir Guevarra and Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires




HSBC

Cantos Q&A: HSBC Earnings - Group Finance DirectorThe following is an unedited interview with the HSBC , produced by Cantos. Cantos is a UK-based financial and corporate information provider. Q&As are paid for by the company being interviewed.
HSBC - 2009 Interim Results
Douglas Flint, Group Finance Director
Financial performance
Q.
What's your take on this set of financial numbers?
A.
It has been an interesting six months. Reported results are a pre-tax profit of around $5bn, but for the first time there has been a bit more noise than normal in the accounts. Credit spreads, because the financial markets have improved quite markedly over this period, tightened considerably. And therefore for the first time in a long time we had a reversal of some of the fair value gains we've taken on our own credit spread, on our own long-term debt, and that was a loss in the period of around $2.5bn. And therefore the underlying number is more of our managed performance; we're more like $7.5bn pre-tax, rather than the $5bn that we've reported.
The other item is somewhat unusual. You will be aware we did a very successful Rights Issue in April of this year. And under some of the technical requirements of existing accounting standards that Rights Issue - because of the currencies in which it was denominated being different from our reporting currency - was treated under IFRS as a financial liability. And that meant, technically, that we had to take the movement of the share price which went up during the rights period as a loss to our income statement, which would have taken that $5bn pre-tax profit to a profit of only a couple of hundred million dollars. Clearly that was anomalous. It's a principle of accounting that you can't make money trading in your own shares with your own shareholders. And therefore the Board considered very carefully its obligations under the Companies Act and Accounting Standards, which is to adjust for anything that would mean the results were not presented fairly, didn't show a true and fair view. And so we did not take that loss and indeed we explained that in the accounts.
Q.
So put that to one side then, what are the real takeaways from your side of things?
A.
I think the real takeaways - we're still in a very difficult period - I think that one of the things that everyone has to do when looking at the numbers is understand the context of the risk profile of the organisation reporting. We still are very cautious about the future and therefore we have positioned the balance sheet very conservatively; increased the liquidity of the balance sheet; been very selective in the areas that we take credit exposure to; and we've retained and built the capital position of the organisation. And therefore, in the context of that risk positioning, I think the results are very good indeed.
Within that, offsetting the profit declines that we saw in personal banking, largely from the value of our deposits, which are traditionally a key source of strength - but much, much less so in a very low interest rate environment, but we still grew them - offsetting that our wholesale business, Global Banking and Markets, had a really strong performance in this six month period.
And in Commercial Banking, while the low loan impairment charges have gone up, they've gone up from a low base and they are actually fairly resilient against what we've seen against prior recessions. And I think that's very much attributable to the stimulus packages around the world and the very low interest rate environment that exists, together with steps we are taking to work with customers to make sure that they can retain their business models so far as possible.
Balance Sheet
Q.
Now you touched on the Rights Issue earlier. You said in March that the Rights Issue was going to help HSBC deal with the uncertainties in the market and also the opportunities that might arise. So how much of the Rights Issue proceeds are left? And also how have you used the funds?
A.
Well they are all left. When we raised the money on a pro-forma basis our tier 1 ratio went to about 9.9 per cent, at the end of June it is 10.1 per cent. So our risk weighted assets are broadly the same. Our capital ratios have strengthened and therefore the capital base of the organisation is a little bit more than it was on a pro-forma basis just after the Rights. So we generated capital in the period, we've paid cash dividends to shareholders and we've strengthened the balance sheet.
Now there's not been a great deal of credit demand in this period. In the market places, trade activity has gone down and indeed our customers have got more cautious about their own affairs. And therefore the positioning has been to build our deposit base, to make our balance sheet strong and liquid so that we're extremely well positioned for the upturn in economic activity when it comes.
Q.
You're a deposit rich company as you've said. Revenues are depressed aren't they in this low interest environment? So are you really comfortable with this?
A.
Yes. Deposit strength has been at the core of our differentiation for as long as I can remember. It continues to be a core strength. It continues to be our principal relationship with our customer base. We are extremely committed to maintaining that strong liquidity position. Yes, it doesn't make us much money but I think that some of the difficulties that have arisen in the marketplace have been because peoples' funding structure has been less conservative than ours. So we are truly committed to keeping that in place, and I think it's a tremendous platform for revenue growth when a more normal interest rate environment returns, when economies start to grow again.
Q.
Just to push you on one point, though, if repayments are so strong on asset-backed securities, why is it that the assets-for-sale reserve deficit is still so high?
A.
That's a great question. What has happened during the period is that credit spreads have come down and asset prices have gone up. But there has been much less movement in asset prices on asset-backed securities. So you asked the question rightly, why is that the case? A large part of it is technical, and that technicality is reflected in still enormous illiquidity in the marketplace.
But under the Basel II capital rules there's a direct correlation between rating and the amount of capital you have to hold against asset-backed securities. The rating agencies have, for all sorts of reasons one can understand, changed their rating methodologies and that has led to significant deterioration in the ratings of the underlying paper, which has meant the capital cost of holding the paper has gone up significantly and it also means that anybody buying the paper is exposed to further rating downgrades. Even if there is no economic change in the likely recovery, the capital cost of holding the paper could rise. And therefore anyone who is subject to those rules is not very keen to hold an asset that is very consumptive of capital and could be even more so. So it's a very illiquid marketplace.
What you said is right, during the period the repayments that we've had have all been repaid at par. And the stress test indications that we gave with our results at the end of last year at the time of the Rights Issue we remain very comfortable with.
Credit quality and regulation
Q.
And what's the outlook for credit quality around the world? Has provisioning peaked, do you think?
A.
I think it is too soon to say. There are very mixed signals. We are seeing the effects of the stimulus in Asia. We're seeing the effects of the stimulus beginning to come through, to some extent, in the US - housing sales beginning to pick up, some green shoots of stability in some of the housing markets across the United States. But it is too soon to say that the economic downturn has played out fully. So the impairment charges that we bear will clearly reflect what happens in the economy in the second half and into 2010. But where I think we're pleased is that the run-off of the consumer finance portfolio has continued to progress steadily and pretty much in line with our plans.
Q.
How do you think that the changes in the regulatory environment, certainly for the rest of the year, how do you think they will play out? And also, how will that impact on HSBC?
A.
It is clear there is going to be a significant change in the regulatory framework within which we operate, and there's no question that's necessary, given everything that has happened. I think there's no doubt that at the end of the day certain activities within banking will require more capital. I think it is certain that certain activities will be constrained because of the way they are funded and therefore there will be tighter rules on liquidity.
I think one of the aspects, however - which is partly by choice and partly an accident of our history - that puts us in a relatively good position, is we have always run the Group through subsidiaries by and large, and therefore we have separate pools of capital, separate pools of liquidity across all our major markets. And I think that one of the likely outcomes of the deliberations that are taking place on the policy framework at the moment is to call for more subsidiarisation, more ring fence capital, more ring fence liquidity as breakwaters against very large institutions. We're already in that shape. And of course within our own structure on top of the capital that's down in each of the subsidiaries, we retain a fairly sizeable pool, and certainly now a very sizeable pool given the Rights Issue, of capital at the centre to be able to respond both to opportunities and unforeseen adverse circumstances. So I feel we're in good shape.

sabretoothtigger

The following is an unedited interview with the HSBC Group CEO, produced by Cantos. Cantos is a UK-based financial and corporate information provider. Q&As are paid for by the company being interviewed.
HSBC - 2009 interim results
Michael Geoghegan, Group CEO
Results highlights
Q.
If I look through the numbers today I see that HSBC has delivered revenues around $37bn. On the profit before tax side, I see that you're ahead of the last half, but behind where you were one year ago in the corresponding period. What does this tell us about the state of HSBC?
A.
Well I think you have to take the second half of 2008 as a one-off. We actually wrote off the goodwill of our business in Personal Financial Services in North America. I think what you rightly focus on is the first half of 2008 against first half of 2009. And to be on par with that I think is a remarkable achievement, bearing in mind what we've gone through. This tells you that really the business is actually robust, strong, growing in certain areas. It is there. Where we are weak, it's offset by strong areas elsewhere. So I'm very comfortable, that's a good way to be at this stage. Now clearly the second half is what it is all about. Let's see what the second half brings.
Obviously we have had a bounce in our Global Banking and Markets business in the first half of 2009. That's good because it has come from core businesses like interests rates; has come from exchange. All those businesses - from Global Banking and Markets, debt capital markets - all those things are customer driven. I'm pleased about that. I just want to make sure that the second half continues in that area. Obviously, balance sheet management will run-off to some extent in the second half.
Q.
Just from an operational perspective what were the real key drivers, the highlights from the performances?
A.
MFG: I think for me, it was a stabilisation in the United States. This was something we said we needed to do. We needed to focus on the consumer lending side, start running it down, restructure it, and I see those books now maturing. I'm not going to forecast what's going to happen in the second half, but if we're over the worst in that area, that will have an enormous forward impetus on the results of the Group.
I think the other aspects of it are that the Commercial Banking business, which we always said was the jewel in the crown for HSBC, has performed well. Let me explain why it has performed well.
Back in the back end of 2006, when we spotted that the sub-prime business was at fault in the US, we started to move the entire book of HSBC across the world, and we started tightening credit. That, in the area of Commercial Banking, meant that we cut back from commercial real estate. We did a number of things and those things have protected us well. We are not insulated from it or isolated from risk that is out there, but we are significantly in better quality of risk than others who are now having to face up to some risky lending that was done.
Q.
It also looks as if there's been a lot of work on driving costs down. What's been going on there?
A.
If you recall, back in 2006 when the Group Management Board was formed, we decided the one thing that we had over everybody else was our distribution capability. It wasn't just about sales. It was also about delivery, service and costs. What you're seeing in the cost line now is a flat to falling cost line - some of this now coming through. It takes time to get commonality in systems. It takes time to get commonality of process. But that's beginning to come.
Even though we had redundancy costs in the United States with the run-off of the consumer lending business; even though we had higher accruals for bonuses in regard to those Global Banking and Markets results; even though we had higher pension costs in the UK - we came in with flat performing costs.
This is a reflection of the re-engineering that's going through HSBC at the present time, through joining up the company, and I can't see that stopping. I can see it only increasing. We are tremendously well positioned for coming out of this recession, being very nimble, very tightly managed and working off common platforms across the world.
Business performance
Q.
If we look at Global Banking and Markets, specifically, you delivered a record performance in the first half. Profits before tax around $6bn, that's well up from the $2bn in the first half of 2008. The question, though is, "is this performance sustainable?"
A.
Great question, because everybody is declaring victory, showing great results in the markets business. Look, our strategy is to be emerging markets-led and finance-focused. And that's what's really impressive in these results. They are business results around the business. These are customers giving us more debt issuance business. These are customers giving us more rates business. These are customers giving us more FX business.
And why? Because they want to be with a bank that's going to be here tomorrow. They want to be doing a debt issuance that's going to have a market for it for 10 years. This is all about what HSBC's about. This is about being long term.
I believe the results we've got today are spectacular. I think they are sustainable.
Obviously the balance sheet management element is not, because they are driven by interest rate management, and interest rates are at an all-time low and I don't see them going up in the medium term. So I think that part of the business you should look at it in a more one-off basis. But the underlying business, the client-driving business, is very powerful indeed.
Q.
To the sustainability point, it's unsure what's going to be happening out there, isn't it? Is it really sustainable?
A.
Well obviously we're only a reflection of the underlying clients who are with us, but there are more clients with us now than there were six months ago. That's telling us that they want to be with a bank that they can count on. We have an advances-to-deposits ratio of below 80 per cent. That means that we have the liquidity. We don't have to go to the wholesale market. We can do the most major offerings that want to be done.
The two mineral companies that went out this half to do consolidation, they were funded by HSBC. That is a reflection of why people come to us. And I can't see that changing in the second half, or in fact in years to come.
Q.
And looking at Commercial Banking, you touched on it briefly. Pre-tax profits there of about $2.4bn. Are you really satisfied with this?
A.
MFG: Yes I am, considering what is going on in the world today, and looking at the forecasts from various different commentators, I think our Commercial Banking business is holding up well. Remember, it's very much trade driven, our business, we're an international bank so we have focused our Commercial Banking across borders, joining it up across the world. And that has really paid dividends.
Q.
On a slightly less positive note, Personal Financial Services, is down and significantly from the first half of 2008. How concerned should we be by this drop in performance?
A.
Well, clearly Personal Financial Services include both our consumer finance business in the US and our classic personal financial service - mainly in the area of Premier, which we've actually gone over the three million customer level now. We're on the journey to six million - we said we'd go to get six million Premier customers. I'm really pleased that the vast majority of those new Premier customers are new to the bank. That is telling us that people want to bank, the proposition is right, it's international, it's across border.
If you're looking at Personal Financial Services anywhere in the world it will be a reflection of the underlying economy. I cannot get away from the issues that people have in regard to unemployment, to underemployment. That's particularly strong here in the UK. It is, to some extent, strong in Latin America and in North America. But I would not be that concerned, if I said to you, and as you saw in the results, we're profitable. And we will build and work with our customers through the difficulties they have.
The impairment charges in PFS are generally in the unsecured area. We are seeing very little deterioration, if any, in regard to mortgages, particularly in the United Kingdom. So that tells you the quality of the book is strong.
North America
Q.
Now we touched on the US briefly earlier, in March of course that's when you announced that you would be running the business off. Give me a sense of exactly how that's progressing? What have we seen so far?
A.
Well let's step back even further than that. Back in March 2007, we said we were going to run off the mortgage services book. That's a broker book that was around $50bn. That has now nearly halved - halved and matured - and that is really performing remarkably well; bearing in mind the economic conditions in the United States.
Then, as you rightly say, in March of this year we said right we're going to run off the consumer lending book and the branch-based business. Firstly we closed down all the branches, that's all been successfully done. There has been an increase in the deterioration of credit in that book, but not as much as we were forecasting. So we are pleasantly surprised to date. We were expecting unemployment to rise as it has and we thought there would be a direct correlation to our impairments. But it has been less than we expected. Now, whether that will continue in the second half I don't know. But I'm relatively comfortable that if the economy stays where it is, I am feeling that we may well be nearing the peak of our impairment charges in the US.

Cantos Q&A: HSBC Earnings - Group CEO -2Q.
Let's put HFC to one side for a second, and just to press you on this. If we take out HFC from the equation, what is the long-term strategy with regard to the US? Are you still committed to it?
A.
Yes of course we are. We've been in the United States since 1866. But the fact is it has to be something that correlates and is joined up with the rest of the Group. America is still the largest economy in the world, but what we have to do is to play our position, is to make sure that we're seen as the international player, the international banking element of the United States, linking it in with the rest of the Group around the world. We can't compete with the 10,000 branches that some of our competitors have and we don't intend to do that. That's their position and let them take that position. What we will take is the international element of trade both be it commercial or be it personal; be it international investors going into the United States. I've got no doubts that Asian investors, Middle Eastern investors will go into the United States and buy assets as they revalue downwards, and HSBC shall be there for them, there for them in their home country and we'll be there for them in the United States.
So I think there's a lot to go for but I think it's a case of making sure we know what we're doing and staying focused. And that is something that always challenges management and clearly we need to understand what is happening in the US economy and it's not totally clear yet. But we've got lots of things to do in the meantime as we wait to expand our operation there.
Q.
So HSBC Direct, the cards business, steady as they go?
A.
Steady as they go. I say look, let's look at the card business over 24 months. If it looks like it is performing well let's keep that business, let's see if we can join it up with the rest of the Group, and that's what we're working on at the moment. I'm not making a judgement for it or against it at the current time, let's just look how it is going. Cards will continue in the United States. We've got 36 million cards in the United States. People will come back to that and say that's a business that has value in the future.
Outlook
Q.
Now it appears that the big shocks to the global economic system and the banking sector appear to be behind us now. Are you seeing anything that points to a recovery yet?
A.
Certainly the turbulence is less. I'm not claiming victory yet in the economy. I think there are two trains of thought. We're at the bottom or we may have another leg to drop. I think nobody can tell at the current time. If there is going to be a deterioration, it's most likely to be in the fourth quarter. We're positioned well whatever happens. We're there on a strong deposit basis, strong capital base. Hopefully there won't be a second leg, but nobody's sure. And wherever you are in the corporate world or the banking industry or even government, everybody's very cautious. I suppose that's the right way to be. We need to see a second half to see what is actually going to happen.
Q.
And just briefly, in terms of where we are with the economic situation, do you feel that vindicates the HSBC strategy, the shape of the business?
A.
I imagine going forward a number of financial institutions will copy the model of HSBC, where you have a holding company and active subsidiaries. Every one of our subsidiaries, be it in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, North America or Europe have their own Boards of Directors, have their own capital, they have their own assets and liabilities all linked into the region. Regulators will review those businesses, the holding company feeds down capital and takes up dividends. I think that's a model that's a well-defined model, easy to understand, doesn't come into the area of âEUR too big to manage', you can see it very quickly, you can see where it is, regulators feel comfortable in their own regions. And I suspect that's a model that others will copy as we go forward.
Q.
Now, if we just take the focus back to HSBC. You talked the macro picture. How do you see HSBC set for the rest of this year?
A.
Well clearly we're only a reflection of the underlying business of our customers. So I think in the area of Personal Financial Services it will be challenging in Europe and challenging in the United States. I think in Asia we will see a return to the stock markets; you're seeing that already. You'll see wealth management products increasing. China is clearly moving forward. We are very well positioned in China; we're the largest international bank in China. We are there with Bank of Communications, we're there with Ping An. Both of those are seeing great growth. And if you actually look at the increase in our investments in China over the period, they have been very substantial, well north of US&$8bn of gain in the first half of this year. When others sold, HSBC stood. That money is not actually shown in our P&L; it is just a reflection of the underlying value of those franchises. That can only increase. So I'm very confident on Asia.
Obviously, the Middle East is restructuring. I think our PFS business will be challenged there but Commercial Banking is holding up well. Global Banking and Markets is doing very well there, again this is another recognition of HSBC's position, people want to give business to HSBC in that region.
Europe will be a reflection of the underlying economy. I suspect we are seeing the trough in house values and hence mortgages will gradually pick up, but I don't think anything massive to be seen. Obviously, unemployment is the issue here in Europe and obviously our businesses are most focused in the UK. So we will be tracking carefully what happens to unemployment.
And the United States, as I said earlier, may well be at the top now on the impairment charge, and if it is that will be quite a reflection in our results in the second half.

A video/audio version is available free by logging on to http://www.cantos.com, along with other current financial and business interviews.

sabretoothtigger

Its not time to invest in Northern Rock yet , bad news for any pre election sell off I guess

Northern Rock posts £724m loss




its mortgages in arrears had risen to 3.92 per cent by 30 June, from 3.67 per cent three months before.

Northern Rock - which was taken into public ownership in February 2008 - said it incurred an impairment charge on its loans of £602.2 million and expected that figure to be similar in the second half.
Northern Rock was notorious for its Together loans which lent up to 125 per cent of home values.
As the recession bites and house prices fall, it is these loans that are responsible for its soaring rates of mortgages more than three months in arrears. When these loans are stripped out the share falls to 2.85 per cent.
The lender said the number of properties repossessed as of June 30 were 2,522, compared with 3,620 at the end of 2008.


The crisis forced it to turn to the Bank of England for £26.9 billion in emergency funding before being nationalised when sale attempts fell through.
Northern Rock now owes the Government £10.9 billion after paying back the loan with mortgage redemptions as it encouraged borrowers to seek deals elsewhere.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/northern-rock-posts-pound724m-loss-1767030.html

Standard Chartered 1H Net Pft +5%; Raising GBP1B

By Aries Poon and Margot Patrick
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


U.K.-listed bank Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) Tuesday said it is raising GBP1 billion in new shares for potential acquisitions in Asia, as it reported a 5% rise in first-half net profit from increased trading and financing activity from corporate clients.

By being "in the right parts of the world," the emerging markets-focused bank said the second half has started strongly and that it hopes to grab further market share by buying competitors' assets.

Standard Chartered shares opened down 49 pence, or 3.4%, at 1,387 pence after news of the fund-raising.

Net profit for the six months ended June 30 was $1.88 billion, up from $1.79 billion a year earlier. Pretax profit, a measure closely watched by U.K. analysts, was 10% higher from the same 2008 period at $2.84 billion, beating an average estimate of $2.49 billion in a survey of analysts provided by the company.

Group Chief Executive Peter Sands said he isn't underestimating the challenges in the current economic environment, but "we do see this crisis as a strategic opportunity to deepen our relationship with clients, to win market share and to transform our competitive position."
The bank had a strong first half in wholesale banking as companies stepped up their trading activities and raised money for deals. Pretax operating profit rose 36% to $2.25 billion from $1.65 billion.

Consumer banking, however, posted a 57% decline in first-half pretax operating profit, to $348 million from $802 million in the same 2008 period.

Loan impairment losses across the bank rose to $1.09 billion in the six months from $465 million a year earlier, as both corporate customers and individuals in countries including Korea and the Middle East had trouble repaying loans.

Standard Chartered said it will pay an interim dividend of 21.23 cents, 10% more than in the first half of last year.

Sandy Chen, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said he interprets the combination of the dividend hike and share issuance "as a sign of management's confidence, in both the macro prospects in Stan's emerging markets, and their business model." He said Panmure would be upgrading its forecasts "substantially."

People familiar with the situation earlier said Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) is in talks to sell its retail and commercial banking operations in China and India to Standard Chartered.

Decadent_Fool

Feeling for tomorrows LLOY interim results?

I think some substantial losses of about £2b, with a negative effect on the share price especially when compred with other banking results so far this week which show profitability can be achieved/maintained.

I'm hoping for another massive drop in price similar to when the full results were announced, but suspect it won't be as bad. Either way, I'm looking to pounce as long as the price drops to around 65p.

sabretoothtigger

lloyds dont have any investment banking, its hard to judge sentiment but I'd say the price has pretty highly rated lloyds compared to its low. It might drop but not expecting anything big either way.
Will they pay a dividend, didnt they say it'd be a quarterly pay out from now on

25% drop in a day or a week would make front pages because the british public has billions in this bank. I would expect ukfi to demand slow and steady progress and they do have control.
Rbs does have investment stuff so who knows, I expect them to drop i guess

Decadent_Fool

LOL! Not one of my better calls

00ec25

Decadent_Fool wrote: »

LOL! Not one of my better calls

taken on the chin like a true gentleman :cool:, well done sir :T

Baz_2

Laugh at loud at the amatuer experts on this thread. :rotfl:

Seriously though, I expect the fat cats may have expected something horrendous and the bad losses suffered are from write offs only, which were expected anyway. The underlying business and profit excluding the write offs must be really good.

lotsadogs

Well I bought shares in both Lloyds and Barclays in March this year, so its been a good run for me. I work on hunches, no real skill, so I am further pleased with progress this week. But I dont understand the leaps of today - can anyone explain???

Thank you. x