Payback time
Yesterday taxpayers had their hopes raised that they might one day get back the billions coughed up to save Lloyds Banking Group and Bradford & Bingley's mortgage book.
Although Lloyds predicted a return to profit this year, after recording lower than expected bad debts, there is still a long way to go.
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Hide AdThe bank, which took over HBOS at the height of the financial crisis, will take years to cleanse its loan book of the overpriced commercial property investments it took on during the boom. Similarly, B&B, which cut annual losses by nearly a third, has regained some kind of
stability on the way to being run down.
A political consensus on how to prevent a repeat of such banking collapses has, however, remained elusive. Until this has been achieved, and until the financial services sector has been fully reformed, there will be a risk that taxpayers won't get their rebate.