Official: RBS, Northern Rock, Lloyds Banking Group to sell 100s of branches in coming years

October 18th, 2009 Post Offices and State Bank of India branches will sell the forms related to police jobs in Bihar, police officials said today. "We have disassociated ourself from the selling of police job forms.

October 3rd, 2009 Official: Standard Chartered, RBS deal breaks downLONDON — An attempt by Standard Chartered to buy Asian assets of the Royal Bank of Scotland has failed due to disagreements over how much it should pay for the deal, an official briefed on the negotiations said Saturday. Standard Chartered PLC had hoped to acquire banking branches and loan books held by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC in India, Malaysia and China for between $200 and $250 million, but RBS held out for more, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make an official statement.

September 14th, 2009 British Conservatives consider bank privatizationsLONDON — Britain's Conservative Party, which holds a hefty lead over the governing Labour Party in the opinion polls, is looking at ways of selling off the British government's equity stakes in Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC to ordinary shareholders should it win the next general election, a spokesman for Conservatives said Monday. Hayden Allan, a party press officer, said the Conservative Treasury team was considering a privatization program similar to the British Gas campaign in the 1980s, when a large chunk of the company was sold off to individuals as opposed to financial institutions.

August 10th, 2009 Lloyds shares fall on capital raising speculationLONDON —Shares in part-nationalized British bank Lloyds PLC dropped 5 percent on Monday on speculation the lender is considering a multibillion pound share issue as part of a plan to reduce its reliance on the government. Lloyds agreed in March to put some 260 billion pounds ($433 billion) of bad loans into the government's asset protection scheme, an insurance program for toxic debt, but is now reported to be concerned about the 16 billion pounds worth of fees attached to the program.

August 5th, 2009 Lloyds loses $5.3 billion in H1 on bad loansLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC, part owned by the British government after a bailout, on Wednesday reported a loss of 3.1 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) for the first half of the year as bad loans rose at HBOS, the bank it took over in January. The merged bank's share price rose after management said the worst of the bad debts problem was over.

August 5th, 2009 Lloyds shares up on smaller than expected lossLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC shares rose sharply Wednesday after the part-nationalized bank reported a smaller-than-expected loss for the first half of the year and declared its belief that the worst was over. Lloyds blamed loan losses at Halifax/Bank of Scotland, the company it acquired in a government-backed takeover in January, for record writedowns which resulted in a loss of 3.1 billion pounds ($5.3 billion).

July 16th, 2009 Lloyds Banking Group cutting 1,200 more jobsLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group announced Thursday it would cut another 1,200 jobs to reduce costs and rationalize operations after the government-backed merger of Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland. Lloyds, whose biggest shareholder is the British government, said 650 permanent jobs would go by the first quarter of next year, 180 staff would move to new positions and 370 agency and contract staff would be cut in its group operations and insurance divisions.

June 30th, 2009 Lloyds Banking Group cutting 1,800 more jobsLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC said Tuesday that it expects to cut nearly 1,800 jobs in its group operations and wholesale divisions over the next three years as it consolidates the merger of Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland. The partly nationalized bank said 2,100 posts would be affected, but that would be partly offset by creating 350 new roles in the two divisions.

June 30th, 2009 Lloyds Banking Group cutting 1,750 more jobsLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC said Tuesday it expects to cut 1,750 jobs in its group operations and wholesale divisions over the next three years as it consolidates the merger of Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland. The partly nationalized bank said 2,100 posts would be cut, but that would be partly offset by creating 350 new roles in the two divisions.

June 9th, 2009 Lloyds Banking Group to cut 1,600 more jobsLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC said Tuesday that it will cut another 1,600 jobs in Britain in a shake up of its lending businesses. Lloyds, one of two big British banks being propped up by the government, said it would close its 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester branches in November, eliminating 833 jobs.

June 8th, 2009 Lloyds bank gets 87 pct takeup on share offerLONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC said Monday that it has placed 4 billion pounds ($6.35 billion) of shares which will enable it to make a partial repayment of government support. The auction maintained the government's stake in Lloyds at 43.4 percent of its ordinary shares.

March 3rd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Yes Bank is planning to open 133 more branches across the country by March 2010 of which 70 will be in north India, a senior company official said here Monday. 'Out of our total 117 branches in India, 58 percent branches are located in northern India, as we perceive it as a safe place to do business.

March 3rd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Private bank Yes Bank is planning to open 133 additional branches across the country, including 70 in north India, by March 2010, a senior company official said here Monday. 'Out of our total 117 branches in India, 58 percent branches are located in northern India, as we perceive it as a safe place to do business.

February 27th, 2009 LONDON - Lloyds Banking Group Friday reported 2008 losses of 9.9 billion pounds ($14 billion) following its growth into a 'superbank' through the emergency takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) last September. Lloyds core division made a pre-tax profit of 807 million pounds in 2008, but HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, had suffered losses of 9.9 billion pounds, the banking group said.

December 26th, 2008 KOLKATA - India's largest banker State Bank of India (SBI) will strengthen its network in the Bengal Circle by adding 142 branches by the next financial year, a senior bank official said here Saturday. 'We've set a target to add 142 branches in the Bengal Circle that includes West Bengal, neighbouring Sikkim and Andaman,' SBI chief general manager (Bengal Circle) Jayanta K.