UK banks have £40bn undeclared losses - reports

The Daily Telegraph reports, shareholder adviser group PIRC analysed the 2011 accounts of the UK's top five banks to see how much they expect to write off as bad debt in the coming years but have yet to take against profits. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has about £18bn of undeclared losses that would use more than a third of its capital buffer and, the Telegraph said, could force the state-backed lender to ask for another bailout. HSBC had £10bn in undeclared losses, Barclays £6.7bn, Standard Chartered £3.6bn and Lloyds Banking Group £3.6bn. The report said none of the banks disputed ...