U.K. Plans Second Round of Bailout Measures
January 18th, 2009 at 1:48 pm - by admin
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in Egypt, Sunday that Monday will bring an announcement of a set of new bailout measures in hopes to allow banks the liquidity to resume lending.
The £37 billion bailout scheme in October, much like the similar plans in the United States and other countries victim to a financial crisis, has overwhelmingly failed to provide confidence and availability to U.K.-based banks. Lending is still down significantly.
President-elect Barack Obama is in a similar position - poised to take office in just two days, a plan is in place to supplement the current TARP and liquidity funding programs with a direct lending-oriented program. Obama also claims the ability to save 4 million jobs with a direct stimulus package.
Speculators suggest that Brown’s policy may involve guaranteeing consumer assets and underwriting loans, allowing banks to make low or no-risk loans to consumers - possibly up to nearly £100 billion. No official numbers are clear at this point.
The “bad bank” option that a number of countries, including quite possibly the new Obama administration, are considering - involves creating a government operated bank which purchases toxic assets from at-risk banks - in effect, replacing them in their books with new assets and cash. This, like many of the other policies considered, is akin to rewarding bad behavior - but during a crisis, policy implications somewhat unclear.
“We have recapitalised the banks, we have injected money into the economy, at the same time we know that the essential problem that has been holding back banks internationally is the resumption of lending, that’s what we’re going to be doing tomorrow and that is what the package is about. My first priority is hard-working families worried about whether they can get a mortgage, businesses who work hard every day. They need the banks to do the job they say they’re there for,” said Brown.


