Fears for more jobs in banking

MORE jobs are expected to be lost in the banking sector as a result of the eurozone debt crisis, compensation costs and higher taxes, according to a report.

By The Newsroom

Published 19th Mar 2012, 08:17 BST

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Standard Chartered made combined pre-tax statutory profits of £19.4bn in 2011, down 13 per cent on the previous year, professional services firm KPMG said in its UK Banks: Performance Benchmarking report.

The costs associated with the payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal, which amounted to a combined £5.7bn, and the £1.3bn bank levy charge, have held back the banks’ financial performances, KPMG said. The report also found that after aggressive cost-cutting and restructuring, retail banking fared better than investment banking.

Bill Michael, UK head of financial services at KPMG, said: “It was a tougher year than many expected and banks will need to continue working hard to turn things around.”