A&L chief apologises for 'risky' investments - papers 21 Feb

The bank's shares fell nearly 7% to their lowest since 2000 after it said £150m of extra funding costs would squeeze margins this year. At one point the shares were down 19% at an all-time low. The former building society wrote down £185m of structured-credit assets held in its treasury operation, causing full-year profit to fall 30% to £399m. Richard Banks, who heads A&L's treasury business, said: “I regret it [the investments] because we have a loss to the P&L of £185m and that has got to be regrettable.” He said when the investments were made in 1999 the entire industry had assumed t...