Window dressing the banks

The striking thing about the bank announcements of the last few days is not the sizeof the write-downs (huge though they are) but the underlying business performancewhich has been very strong. The good ships Barclays and RBS may be taking on waterbut they are steaming ahead faster than ever.

RBS lost money in the last quarter but continues with "impairment cgharged" - marginal potential losses which if as seems quite likely come good mean massive write backs some way down the line - and thus record breaking profits at the time the Government could be seeking to sell off part of its stake. Already the RBS share price is 50% higher than the last rights issue price at which the Govt injected funds, and is closing in on the previous rights price. The current window dressing could fuel a windfall for the taxpayer - but the Labour Party may be too late to benefit from it.