The slippery slope I talked about earlier is being borne out. The UK government will own a majority 60% of RBS is the estimate.
Markets surge on £1,465bn European bank bail-out | ft.com
In the UK, Gordon Brown, the prime minister, announced the effective nationalisation of three high street banks. Mr Brown defended his government’s “unprecedented but essential” £37bn injection that could leave it owning a 60 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the world’s biggest banks, and 43 per cent of the combined Lloyds TSB and HBOS, which is set to be the country’s largest mortgage lender.
Bankwatch 
At last, “push comes to shove”
Simon .. indeed. I cannot help but believe that there will be unwanted implications from the governments ownership of banks. It might be simplistic thinking, but the guarantees of the bank issued paper in the money market should act to unfreeze those markets, without the government taking a stake in the banks. Even if they were trying to ‘securitise’ their guarentees in the money markets, they could do that in other ways, through covenants, and agreements.