Banks escaped £3.9bn in fees after bailouts

The Labour government undercharged bailed-out banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds to the tune of £3.9 billion, the National Audit Office revealed today.
 
The NAO said the Treasury under Alistair Darling could have set higher fees for both banks to use its Asset Protection Scheme.
 
RBS placed £282 billion in the APS in November 2009 but only paid the minimum exit fee of £2.5 billion. The NAO said an exit fee of £4.4 billion “could have been justified”.
 
Lloyds also paid just £2.5 billion when they pulled out of the APS in October last year – seven months after placing £260bn of bad assets in a provisional version - but the NAO said they should have been charged £4.5 billion for temporary use of the insurance.
 
Read a full report at the Daily Telegraph
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