Wednesday 8 January 2014

The worst bank in the UK is...

Of all the UK banks that have made a loss in every one of the last three, four or five years, as below, only one has, over the relevant period, made a worse loss in each successive year. That bank is Metro Bank Plc.

Its pre-tax loss figures for year ends, are:


31st December 2010 (66 weeks):  £23,386,000 loss.
31st December 2011: £33,096,000 loss.
31st December 2012: £45,728,000 loss.

The only other bank to get close to Metro Bank Plc is European Islamic Investment Bank Plc, which has made a loss in each of the past 5 years. However, for the year ending 31st December 2010, the loss of £6.6million was actually an improvement compared to the previous two years although the loss has increased in the two subsequent years.



Tuesday 7 January 2014

The worst banks in the UK...

...as measured by pre-tax profits:

Hasn't made a profit in 5 years
Alliance Trust Savings Ltd, although latest figures to 31.12.12 show a marked improvement at just -£397,000.
Bank of Scotland Plc, but continung to get less worse since 2009.
Diamond Bank (UK) Plc, formerly Intercontinental Bank (UK) Plc.
European Islamic Investment Bank Plc.
Europe Arab Bank Plc.
Islamic Bank of Britain Plc.
P N B (Europe) Plc.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc.
Ulster Bank Ltd.

4 years
A I B Group (UK) Plc, but getting less worse.
Butterfield Bank (UK) Ltd, although loss for 2012 was just £109,000.
Hampshire Trust Plc.
Harrods Bank Ltd.
Kleinwort Benson Bank Ltd.
Northern Bank Ltd
Shawbrook Bank Ltd.

3 years
D B UK Bank Ltd.
Metro Bank Ltd. And it's getting worse, going from a loss of £23.3million for 2010, to a loss of £33million for 2011, to a loss of £45.7million for 2012.
Mizuho International Plc.
National Westminster Bank Plc.
Standard Bank Plc.

Vanquis Bank Ltd - one of the best performing banks in the UK

It may lend at rates that some might consider usurious, but I don't expect the shareholders are complaining. Vanquis Bank Ltd has, at 9.99%, the highest return on assets percentage of any of the UK banks; when it comes to return on capital, it is second only to Barclays Bank Trust Co.

The biggest banks in the UK

By assets:
  1. Barclays Bank Plc
  2. The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc
  3. Lloyds Banking Group Plc
  4. HSBC Bank Plc
  5. Bank of Scotland Plc
  6. Credit Suisse International
  7. Standard Chartered Bank
  8. National Westminster Bank Plc
  9. Santander UK Plc
  10. Abbey National Treasury Services Plc
By capital:
  1. The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc
  2. Barclays Bank Plc
  3. Lloyds Banking Group Plc
  4. HSBC Bank Plc
  5. Standard Chartered Bank
  6. Bank of Scotland Plc
  7. National Westminster Bank Plc
  8. Credit Suisse International
  9. JP Morgan Securities Plc
  10. Santander UK Plc


How many UK banks are loss making?

The answer is 44, compared to 50 a year ago.The average loss is around £24 million per bank although this figure is somewhat skewed by Royal Bank of Scotland and its banking subsidiaries. Without Ulster Bank and Nat West's figures, each bank made an average profit of around £15 million.

5 banks consistently profitable over the past 4 years

As noted previously, British Arab Commercial Bank Plc tops the latest Pre-Tax Profit Growth Table due to a leap back to the sort of figure that we would expect (£13,555,000 for 2012) against a relatively low base of £209,000 for 2011. Both Adam & Co Plc and United National Bank Ltd record growth of over 1000% for much the same reason.

It is therefore useful to look again at the average for the last four years.

Although, once again, the growth for British Arab Commercial Bank Plc of 6385% for 2012 compared to 2011 has put it at the top of the 4 year average table, for two of the comparative years there has been a fall in profit.


Union Bank comes in at second place despite a recent fall in profit. FBN Bank (UK) Ltd comes in at third place and Methodist Chapel Aid Ltd comes in fifth.


None of these six banks however has shown an increase in profit each year over the past four years. When we reported six months ago there were only three banks that could be awarded this accolade which suggests strong, steady growth. They were Vanquis Bank Ltd, ABC International Bank Plc and Standard Chartered Bank. To those three we can now add two more: Sainsbury's Bank Plc and Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd, having both turned in impressive profits for 2012.

The number of UK banks continues to rise

For the last 6 months we have seen no banks come off the Bank of England's List of Banks, but we have seen two new ones come on. These are Union Bank of India (UK) Ltd and FCMB (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of First City Monument Bank Plc of Nigeria. The number of UK banks now stands at 156.