Tomorrow, Lloyds Banking Group, which now owns HBOS, will reveal results for the six months to 30 June, and on Friday Royal Bank of
For the property industry, the big point of interest is what happens to loans that have already been deemed impaired, or sit on the 'watch lists' banks create. There is a hope that alongside the banks' results there will be further info on the
And the industry seems worried by the scheme.
Now I've done a fair bit of work on this in the last few months, having written a research paper for the Investment Property Forum (see link below) on how the banks are dealing with property loan books. The noises coming out of banks of all stripes, as well as the Government and their advisers, are encouraging. In the
But some investors are still worried, and one I have spoken to pointed out that, since the start of the year when the APS essentially kicked in (losses made on property after 31 December 2008 will be insured by the Government), there have been a series of big administrations involving former HBOS borrowers like Mountgrange, Paul Kemsley's Rock and Modus.
This investor even went so far as to undertake a study into the potential effects of the APS, the conclusions of which are interesting. It did not ultimately decide on which of two polarised scenarios (flood of forced sales or stagnant market due to banks hoarding the assets secured against unprofitable loans), but one element caught my eye. Under the terms of the scheme, losses from loans that are restructured, such as an extension of maturity or amended LTV covenant, are guaranteed by the scheme.
To me it seems that this gives banks a pretty free hand - some bankers had suggested to me that in order to trigger losses and collect the insurance money from the Government banks might have to bring in receivers or administrators. If this is not the case, and restructuring is good enough to see losses covered, then there will be no need for banks to push assets on to the market.
But before borrowers get complacent, it also means that it will be easier for banks to restructure loans and oust failing management teams, safe in the knowledge that they are covered against the losses that this process might entail. If you've not been pulling your weight and sweating your assets these past few years, expect your bank manager to replace you with someone who will.
