HSBC, RBS and Barclays: Ordered to urgent meeting

The Treasury summoned bank bosses from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC and Barclays to an unscheduled urgent meeting after the Bank of England slashed the base interest rate by 1.5 percent taking the base rate to its lowest level in 53 years.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said this morning “We are determined to get banks to resume lending.” With RBS, HSBC and Barclay not having passed on the rate cut yet the government had to take urgent steps to ensure they do.

Only Abbey the Spanish owned bank and two lenders who were bailed out by the government have passed on the rate that’s Bradford & Bingley and Lloyds TSB have vowed to cut their Standard Variable rates (SVR).

According to MoneyFacts the average SVR is 6.79 percent, this figure is more than double the Bank of England’s base interest rate. The gap between mortgage rates and base rates is the biggest since 1946.

Source: Telegraph