London Report: RBS and Lloyds news leads raft of bank updates
BANKING and financial results will be in the spotlight this week as the Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, Standard Life and Barclays all publish figures.
RBS third quarter numbers, to be published on Friday, are the first since Ross McEwan took over from Stephen Hester as chief executive. They are expected to show the taxpayer-backed bank made a £440m pre-tax profit in the past three months.
However the focus is likely to remain on whether the bank’s toxic assets will be split off, dividing RBS into a good and bad bank.
Meanwhile Lloyds is expected to report a statutory pre-tax profit for the third quarter of about £800m, with a possible announcement for further provision against the mis-selling of PPI to customers.
While the US Federal Reserve’s meeting tomorrow and on Wednesday will be the main focus for economists, there is also plenty of news to come from the UK.
Hometrack housing news today will reinforce the message of steadily rising property prices, especially in the capital where they have risen seven per cent in a year.
Money supply and lending figures for September are due out tomorrow, followed by an update from the Lloyds Business Barometer on Wednesday.
On Thursday Nationwide will give more housing figures and the GfK Consumer Confidence survey for October. Manufacturing figures for October will be announced on Friday.
The corporate calendar begins today with results from Aggreko and PuriCore.
Tomorrow Redefine International, Braemar Shipping Services, BP, Wolfson Microelectronics, Standard Chartered, and Lloyds Banking Group will all update the market.
On Wednesday Advanced Computer Software Group, C&C Group, First Quantum Minerals, Volkswagen, Standard Life, Barclays, African Barrick Gold, Genel Energy and Willis Group Holdings are due to give figures.
BT Group, Afren, Antofagasta, AstraZeneca, Avocet Mining, BG Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Smith & Nephew, Elementis, Croda International, Countrywide, RPS Group, National Express Group and Henderson Group will report on Thursday.
Direct Line, F&C Asset Management, Meggitt and RBS will give updates on Friday.