Business banking news review: week ending 8 Aug 2013
It’s a case of ‘two steps forward, one step back’ for the banking industry this week as Lloyds Banking Group turns a profit and Bank of Scotland gets fined.
Lloyds has seen its fair share of terrible luck over the past few years if you ask me, but the massive sale of some 600 Lloyds TSB branches recently in restitution for its poor financial management seems to have been the turning point as the banking group recently announced it’s turning a healthy profit for the first time in a long time. Lloyds said that it raked in some £2.1 billion over the first half of 2013, and it’s a welcome change from the £456 million loss it weathered over the first six months of 2012.
There’s plenty of speculation that the nearly40 per cent share that the government bought in Lloyds – financed by taxpayers like you and me – could soon be put up on the auction block. Back in 2008, the government bought Lloyds at 73p a share, so if a decision is made to sell off all those shares, I sure hope they’re sold at a profit. It’s not like we’ll see a penny of it ourselves but at least the government’s coffers could receive a sizable boost, what with all these blasted austerity measures we’re all suffering through.
Meanwhile, there’s no silver lining without a dark rain cloud it seems, as reports also emerge this week that Bank of Scotland has been slapped with a massive fine of £75,000 for a major blunder – it was caught mistakenly faxing the personal data of its customers to the incorrect recipients. Apparently no one working for BoS has ever heard of opening up a telephone directory and double-checking.
This blunder does more than tarnish Lloyds’ reputation, considering that BoS has been part of the banking group since it bought out HBOS in 2009. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the first reported instance of BoS sending the personal details – which included names and addresses in addition to personal and business bank account details – was in early 2009.
It’s not even like BoS didn’t realise their mistake, either – the bank was informed more than once about the problem, but it wasn’t until the Information Commissioner’s Office was called in to knock some heads together. Well, now that the ICO has gotten involved, BoS has paid the price – and Lloyds will have to foot the bill. Bloody idiots.