UK banks troubled by concern over bad debt

UK banks are aggressively marketing to the retail sector and concern is growing over the amount of potential bad debt being added to lending portfolios. Brian Moretta, investment manager at SVM Asset Management, feels there are revenue generation concerns within the sector. Corporate lending has slowed but credit growth has been strong, he says, as has mortgage lending. However, Moretta believes it is unlikely this growth will continue at the same rate. He says: 'Some banks such as HBOS and Lloyds have been more pushy in their marketing. They are more competitive on pricing. Lloyds has...