Business
HBOS shareholders agree to let bank merge
London | December 13, 2008 12:01:13 AM IST
HBOS shareholders agreed to allow Lloyds TSB to purchase the British bank Friday and voted approval for the bank to accept $17.1 billion in government help. Members of Unite, a trade union, protested the shareholder vote, forming a picket line outside the shareholder meeting in Birmingham, England, The Daily Mail reported. The union fears thousands of jobs will be lost with the acquisition. The bailout approval means the government will own 43.5 percent of the merged banks, which will be known as Lloyds Banking Group. HBOS said it had written down $8.6 billion in bad debts from January through November, including $4.1 billion since September. The news that banks were still writing down billions of dollars of bad debt reverberated through other financial firms. Royal Bank of Scotland shares dropped 17 percent, while Barclays shares dropped 13 percent, The Daily Mail reported. (UPI)
US committed to Iraq withdrawal, says Biden Police, protesters clash ahead of G8 in Italy Lady Liberty statue reopened to freedom tourists New swine flu case takes India\'s tally to 129 Mango festival starts in Haryana Revocation of AFSPA should be left to Centre: Ansari President urges civil servants to have a development-centric approach Serena turns tables on Venus for third Wimbledon title
| 
