HBOS … could they be next?
Serious concerns about my old alma mater Bank voiced from Citi analysts. They have a significant funding gap apparently, although by my calculations they are very well capitalised. Their issue appears to be liquidity. The vultures are lurking. In a related note, apparently 25% of WAMU shares are sold short at the moment.
HBOS falls on wholesale funding concerns
Shares in the UK’s largest mortgage lender fell up to 40 per cent earlier in the session and settled 50½p lower at 182p, cutting its market capitalisation to £9.58bn ($17.1bn).
The collapse of Lehman has made banks more reluctant to lend to each other in the wholesale markets and this has widened interbank lending rates, making funding more expensive.
Citigroup analysts estimated on Tuesday that HBOS had a funding gap of £197.8bn. They also estimated that HBOS had £29bn of term funding maturing as of the first half in 2008 and about £24bn it needed to refinance each year.
HBOS also has one of the highest loan-to-deposit ratios, seen as a measure of risk, of any European bank, at 177 per cent.
Total Assets 487.57
Total Liabilities 424.22
Total Equity 63.35
6.7 :1
