Lloyds / HBOS see loss of £10.8 billion and could cost many jobs

The BBC have reported this week that Lloyds TSB who acquired HBOS during the recent financial crisis, have seen a loss of £10.8 billion in 2008.

The loss could put in jeporady, some 20,000 jobs worldwide as the group cut back their international operations.  There are fears for thousands of jobs in Edinburgh where HBOS is based.  HBOS was formed from a merger of the Halifax Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland and became Scotland’s largest employer.

The financial crisis that has left the world’s markets in tatters has claimed a multitude of financial service careers so far. 

In related news, Gordon Brown has promised a clean up of the UK banking industry on the back of the recent scandal of pension payouts to the bosses of failed banks (with Sir Fred Goodwin, HBOS cheif, receiving over £750,000 – although there have been calls for him to pay it back).

Personally, I find the drama no more than scapegoating on the part of the UK media.  So a bank boss got paid huge sums of money?  He had one of the most challenging and no doubt stressfull jobs in the country.  It wasn’t his fault the bank failed – the global economy claimed many victims – why should he pay the price with his pension after years of running a pretty profitable company?

What do you think?