HBOS plans £300m annual cost cuts - papers 20 Sept

The paper reports HBOS, which held a seminar for investors yesterday, as saying: "Key to the delivery of sustainable returns for shareholders is the ongoing drive for cost leadership, where HBOS now expects to achieve a cost:income ratio in the mid-30%, by the end of the decade." The bank's current cost:income ratio, a key measurement of efficiency in the banking industry, is 40.9%, the best of the five major banks. An HBOS spokesman confirmed yesterday cost saving plans would centre on better buying policies and the further elimination of duplicated information technology systems use...