AI Terminal

MODULE: AI_ANALYST
Interactive Q&A, Risk Assessment, Summarization
MODULE: DATA_EXTRACT
Excel Export, XBRL Parsing, Table Digitization
MODULE: PEER_COMP
Sector Benchmarking, Sentiment Analysis
SYSTEM ACCESS LOCKED
Authenticate / Register Log In

Natwest Group PLC

Quarterly Report Aug 7, 2009

4644_iss_2009-08-07_6997bb99-352f-4c86-a3d1-c4c2600fef15.pdf

Quarterly Report

Open in Viewer

Opens in native device viewer

Risk and capital management across the Group is based on the risk appetite set by the Board, which sets strategic direction, contributes to, and ultimately approves annual plans for each division, and regularly reviews and monitors the Group's performance in relation to risk through monthly Board reports.

Commentary and outlook

Whilst the future for many aspects of the global economy remains uncertain, it is clear that the first half of 2009 saw a decisive shift. The extreme volatility and risk aversion that characterised the end of 2008 moderated and equity and fixed income markets largely recovered value lost at the start of the year in a sustained rally that ran for most of the second quarter. Intervention by governments and central banks has prevented further failure in the world's financial system. At this point in what has already been a sharp economic slowdown, the key focus is on whether a broader economic recovery can be established, limiting the recession's duration.

For RBS, as for many of its peers, it appears that the full impact of the slowdown already witnessed has yet to be fully realised in terms of loan impairments. This is true for both retail portfolios, where unemployment is likely to rise further even if the broader economy stabilises, and corporate portfolios, where default rates have yet to peak. The Group's investment in remedial and collection processes is therefore of major importance. The Group is committed to working with its customers to restructure debt and aid recovery wherever possible; doing so both maximises current value and supports the Group's franchises in the longer term.

As importantly, this approach drives a focus on early identification and intervention in portfolios most exposed to economic weakness. Responsibility for this rests with the Group's businesses and functions across the Group; the Group's risk management teams continue to work closely with customer and product groups to identify vulnerable customers or portfolio segments and to implement mitigation strategies.

Recovery from a slowdown as sharp as that recently experienced, especially as it will involve the correction of material imbalances in the global economy, is likely to be accompanied by periods of volatility. Whilst not anticipating a return to the extreme uncertainty and market dislocation witnessed during the past two years, a return to the extended period of extreme stability that preceded them is also not expected. The Group's profile – in both its core and non-core activities – remains such that events in many of the world's geographies and markets have the potential to impact the Group's performance.

Effective risk management is therefore of strategic importance for RBS and refinements to the Group's risk management framework continue to be implemented. Updated limit frameworks for both credit and market risk support strategic priorities by targeting resources on areas that are core to the Group's future success. The Group will continue to invest in people, both through recruitment and development, at all levels in the risk management organisation. Through these and other changes, the risk management framework and function are being developed to support the Group's execution against its strategic plan.

Risk and capital management (continued)

Risk governance

Risk and capital management strategy is owned and set by the Group's Board of Directors, and implemented by executive management led by the Group Chief Executive. There are a number of committees and executives that support the execution of the business plan and strategy.

Refer to the Annual Report and Accounts 2008 for further information on the risk and capital management strategy, noting the following changes:

  • The Group Executive Management Committee has been replaced by the Executive Committee;
  • As a result of the Group adopting a new credit approval framework based on delegated individual authority, a new forum – the Executive Credit Group – was formed to consider, on behalf of the Board of Directors, credit applications that exceed the highest level of individual authority provided by the framework; and
  • The Group Chief Executive's Advisory Group (GCEAG) has been disbanded and its responsibilities assigned to other fora. Executive Committee and Management Committee members now meet twice weekly. The risk management scope of the GCEAG has been incorporated into the agenda of the Executive Risk Forum.

Presentation of information

The information in this section has been prepared on a pro forma basis (Group before RFS minority interests) unless otherwise indicated as prepared on a statutory basis.

Capital

The Group aims to maintain appropriate levels of capital. For details on capital adequacy, refer to the Annual Report and Accounts 2008.

Capital resources and ratios

The Group's regulatory capital resources on a proportional consolidation basis excluding RFS minority interest at 30 June 2009, in accordance with Financial Services Authority (FSA) definitions, were as follows:

30 June 31 December 30 June
2009 2008 2008
£m £m £m
Capital base
Core Tier 1 capital: ordinary shareholders' funds and minority interests
less intangibles 35,177 34,041 26,097
Preference shares and tax deductible securities 13,949 23,091 16,200
Tax on the excess of expected losses over provisions 599 308 437
Less deductions from Tier 1 capital (329) (316) (218)
Tier 1 capital 49,396 57,124 42,516
Tier 2 capital 18,879 28,967 25,966
Tier 3 capital 232 260 215
68,507 86,351 68,697
Less: Supervisory deductions (4,536) (4,155) (4,157)
Total regulatory capital 63,971 82,196 64,540
Risk-weighted (or equivalent risk-weighted) assets
Credit risk 404,100 433,400 385,000
Counterparty risk 53,000 61,100 37,100
Market risk 56,300 46,500 32,500
Operational risk 33,900 36,800 37,100
547,300 577,800 491,700
Risk asset ratio
Core Tier 1 6.4% 5.9% 5.3%
Tier 1 9.0% 9.9% 8.6%
Total 11.7% 14.2% 13.1%
Risk asset ratio (statutory basis)
Core Tier 1 7.0% 6.6% 6.5%
Tier 1 9.3% 10.0% 9.1%
Total 11.9% 14.1% 13.2%

Capital resources and ratios (continued)

The components of the Group's regulatory capital resources at 30 June 2009 in accordance with FSA definitions were as follows:

30 June 31 December 30 June
2009 2008 2008
£m £m £m
Composition of regulatory capital
Tier 1
Ordinary shareholders' equity 47,820 45,525 53,283
Minority interests 2,123 5,436 5,808
Adjustments for:
Goodwill and other intangible assets - continuing (15,117) (16,386) (27,534)
Goodwill and other intangibles assets - discontinued - - (47)
Unrealised losses on available-for-sale debt securities 4,194 3,687 919
Reserves arising on revaluation of property and unrealised gains on
available-for-sale equities (25) (984) (2,623)
Reallocation of preference shares and innovative securities (656) (1,813) (1,813)
Other regulatory adjustments (263) 9 (37)
Less expected losses over provisions net of tax (1,502) (770) (1,095)
Less securitisation positions (1,397) (663) (764)
Core Tier 1 capital 35,177 34,041 26,097
Preference shares 11,207 16,655 10,608
Innovative Tier 1 securities 2,742 6,436 5,592
Tax on the excess of expected losses over provisions 599 308 437
Less deductions from Tier 1 capital (329) (316) (218)
Total Tier 1 capital 49,396 57,124 42,516
Tier 2
Reserves arising on revaluation of property and unrealised gains on
available-for-sale equities 25 984 2,623
Collective impairment allowances 744 666 326
Perpetual subordinated debt 4,094 9,079 8,419
Term subordinated debt 17,832 20,282 17,012
Minority and other interests in Tier 2 capital 11 11 100
Less deductions from Tier 2 capital (3,827) (2,055) (2,514)
Total Tier 2 capital 18,879 28,967 25,966
Tier 3 232 260 215
Supervisory deductions
Unconsolidated investments 4,461 4,044 4,119
Other deductions 75 111 38
Total deductions other than from Tier 1 capital 4,536 4,155 4,157
Total regulatory capital 63,971 82,196 64,540

Credit risk

Key elements of the Group's credit risk management framework are laid out in the Annual Report & Accounts 2008. Key developments in the first half of 2009 were:

  • The introduction of a new credit approval framework for wholesale credit, replacing credit committees with individual delegated authorities and requiring at least two individuals to approve each credit decision, one from the business and one from risk management. Both parties must hold sufficient delegated authority. The level of authority granted to an individual is dependent on their experience and expertise with only a small number of senior executives holding the highest authority provided under the framework.
  • Further refinement and embedding of the frameworks to manage the various dimensions of concentration risk: country, sector and single name.

Credit risk assets

Credit risk assets consist of loans and advances (including overdraft facilities), instalment credit, finance lease receivables and other traded instruments across all customer types. Reverse repurchase agreements and issuer risk are excluded.

30 June
2009
£bn
UK Retail 98
UK Corporate 100
Wealth 14
Global Banking & Markets 264
Global Transaction Services 7
Ulster Bank 40
US Retail and Commercial 56
RBS Insurance 3
Other -
Core 582
Non-core 156
738

Total credit risk assets fell 14% to £738 billion at 30 June 2009, largely owing to a reduction in loans and advances to customers and banks and to the impact of sterling strengthening during the first half of the year. In the UK, credit risk assets fell only 1% while outside the UK the reduction was 22%.

Risk and capital management (continued)

Credit risk (continued)

Credit concentration risk (including country risk)

The country risk table below shows credit risk assets exceeding £1 billion by borrower domicile for countries designated internally as risk countries. Exposure is stated gross of mitigating action which may have been taken to reduce or eliminate exposure to country risk events.

30 June 2009
31 December 2008
Banks, financial Banks, financial
institutions and institutions and
Consumer sovereign Corporate Total Consumer sovereign Corporate Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
UAE 596 1,647 2,733 4,976 757 1,813 2,989 5,559
India 970 906 3,047 4,923 1,020 743 3,801 5,564
Russia 91 290 3,305 3,686 51 362 5,361 5,774
Turkey 12 926 2,192 3,130 25 966 3,036 4,027
China 22 1,477 1,473 2,972 25 1,207 2,027 3,259
South Korea 1 1,339 1,004 2,344 2 1,743 1,104 2,849
Taiwan 995 589 558 2,142 1,019 1,394 825 3,238
Romania 512 478 836 1,826 584 305 917 1,806
Mexico 1 234 1,589 1,824 4 268 2,000 2,272
Czech Republic 2 697 818 1,517 2 769 1,058 1,829
Kazakhstan 48 495 661 1,204 70 917 859 1,846
Brazil 3 713 457 1,173 4 1,012 642 1,658
Poland 6 178 983 1,167 7 347 1,309 1,663
Hungary 4 79 1,078 1,161 5 176 831 1,012
South Africa 33 543 452 1,028 27 361 507 895
Saudi Arabia 23 392 597 1,012 23 536 679 1,238

Note:

(1) Risk countries are defined as those with an internal rating of A+ and below. In addition, United Arab Emirates is included which has a rating of AA.

The outlook for developing markets has improved but remains challenging in line with global trends. Sovereigns are more resilient than during previous downturns, but the collapse in world trade resulted in a severe growth shock across all regions in the first half of 2009. Although most economies have now stabilised and are showing tentative signs of recovery, prospects vary and significant risks remain. Asia is still growing and best placed to rebound as sovereigns continue to provide strong fiscal stimulus, however, growth will remain below trend as export dependency is reduced only slowly. Middle East governments remain strong, but corporates have been hit by the real estate correction. Latin America is reasonably resilient, but still closely linked to the US and to commodities markets. Risks are highest in some Eastern European countries owing to onerous private sector debt levels and weaker sovereign liquidity.

Credit risk assets by industry and geography (Core and Non-Core)

Industry analysis plays an important part in assessing potential concentration risk in the loan portfolio. Heightened monitoring applies to industry sectors where the Group believes there is a high degree of risk or potential for volatility in the future.

30 June 31 December
2009 2008 (1)
Credit risk assets by industry sector £bn £bn
Personal 184 198
Property (2) 152 180
Banks and building societies 104 113
Financial intermediaries 54 68
Transport and storage 50 59
Public sectors and quasi-government 35 42
Technology, media, telecommunications 32 35
Wholesale and retail trade 26 29
Building 25 40
Power, water and waste 20 27
Natural resources and nuclear 20 25
Tourism and leisure 18 20
Business services 14 15
Agricultural and fisheries 4 4
738 855

Notes:

(1) Prior period amounts have been restated to reflect internal reclassifications of certain business lines.

(2) Property includes direct property financing plus related exposures.

Credit risk assets by geography 30 June
2009
£bn
31 December
2008
£bn
United Kingdom 324 327
Western Europe (excluding UK) 182 226
North America 136 178
Asia & Pacific 41 56
Latin America 24 31
CEE & Central Asia 17 22
Middle East & Africa 14 15
738 855

Single name concentrations

Some progress was made against exceptions arising from the Group's refined single name concentration framework during the first half of the year, although illiquid markets have reduced the scope for exposure management. In a number of cases, exposure has reduced, however negative rating migration has also created additional cases that exceed the framework's parameters. Overall there were fewer exceptions at the end of the period than at the beginning the number of corporate exceptions reduced from 552 to 501 while financial institution exceptions reduced from 150 to 122. Refining the framework and embedding it in core business processes remains a key focus going forward.

Credit risk asset quality

Refer to the Annual Report and Accounts 2008 and 2008 Pillar 3 Disclosure for details of the Group's credit grading framework and processes.

Credit risk assets by asset quality band PD range 30 June
2009
£bn
31 December
2008
£bn
AQ1 0% - 0.034% 162 208
AQ2 0.034% – 0.048% 24 30
AQ3 0.048% – 0.095% 33 45
AQ4 0.095% - 0.381% 119 159
AQ5 0.381% - 1.076% 126 157
AQ6 1.076% - 2.153% 102 107
AQ7 2.153% - 6.089% 52 48
AQ8 6.089% - 17.222% 26 26
AQ9 17.222% - 100% 17 12
AQ10 100% 34 19
Other (1) 43 44
738 855

Notes:

(1) "Other" largely comprises assets covered by the standardised approach for which a probability of default (PD) equivalent to those assigned to assets covered by the internal ratings based approach is not available.

Key credit portfolios (Analysis refers to combined Core/Non-Core portfolios unless otherwise stated)

The discussions below relate to credit risk assets in specific portfolios within the Group.

Commercial property

The commercial property portfolio credit risk assets total £90.8 billion, an 8% decrease from the beginning of the year, split between: UK (£58.0 billion); Western Europe (£22.1 billion); North America (£6.8 billion); and other regions (£3.9 billion). As part of the strategic review, 40% of the Group's commercial property portfolio was designated Non-Core.

Lending is spread across: investment (70%); development (28%); and other (2%). Speculative lending represents less than 2% of the portfolio. The Group's appetite for originating speculative commercial property lending is limited and any such business requires exceptional approval under the credit approval framework.

The decrease in asset valuations continues to place strain on the portfolio with more clients seeking covenant renegotiations while discussing structural enhancements and/or potential equity injections. The average loan-tovalue (LTV) is 89%. The average interest coverage ratios for GBM and UK Corporate portfolios are 168% and 162% respectively.

The Group's lending approach has always been predominantly cashflow driven and that has mitigated the impact of asset devaluation, however, the outlook remains challenging with further pressure on asset values expected, limited liquidity to support refinancing and increasing concerns about tenant failures. The Group is working closely with clients to restructure loans and achieve outcomes that benefit both parties. Portfolios are subject to specific monitoring within originating divisions and a separate unit has been established and staffed in the first half of 2009 to ensure that specialised expertise is deployed to actively manage this portfolio on a global and coordinated basis. 13% of the portfolio was non-performing at 30 June 2009, compared to 6% at 31 December 2008.

UK residential mortgages

The UK mortgage portfolio totalled £79 billion at 30 June 2009, an increase of 6% during the first half of the year and 9% higher than June 2008, due to strong sales growth and lower redemption rates. Brands are the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, the One Account, and First Active. The assets comprise prime mortgage lending and include 7% (£5.4 billion) of exposure to residential buy-to-let. There is a very small legacy self certification book (0.4% of total assets) which was withdrawn from sale in 2004.

The average LTV for new business was 65% in the first half of 2009 versus 67% for 2008. The maximum LTV available to new customers remains 90% and there has been strong volumes of low LTV applications in the first half of the year coupled with continued subdued demand for higher LTV business.

The arrears rate (three or more payments missed) on the combined Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest brands was 1.8% at 30 June 2009, up from 1.5% as at 31 December 2008 and 1.16% as at June 2008. The arrears rate on the buy-to-let portfolio was 1.6% at 30 June 2009 (1.5% at 31 December 2008; 0.9% at 30 June 2008).

The mortgage impairment charge was £65 million in the first half of 2009 versus £33 million for the full year 2008. The increase is mainly attributable to declining house prices driving lower recoveries. Provision cover at 30 June 2009 was 0.20% versus 0.18% at 31 December 2008.

The number of repossessions in the first half of 2009 totalled 567, versus 551 in the second half of 2008. Forbearance policies support customers in financial difficulty and include not initiating repossession proceedings for 6 months after a customer falls in to arrears. The Group also participates in the Government's Mortgage Rescue and Homeowner Mortgage Support Schemes.

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland residential mortgages

The residential mortgage portfolio in Ireland across the Ulster Bank and First Active brands totalled £21.8 billion at 30 June 2009; 91.7% is in the Republic of Ireland and 8.3% in Northern Ireland. This represents a decline of 2% in the Republic of Ireland and an increase of 2% in Northern Ireland from balances at 31 December 2008.

During the first half of 2009 loan to value and affordability criteria were further tightened, particularly in higher risk segments, e.g. buy to let. The bank also introduced new products - Momentum and SecureStep - in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These products aim to support market activity while continuing to meet the bank's risk criteria.

The arrears rate (three or more payments missed) increased to 2.7% at 30 June 2009 from 1.5% at 31 December 2008. As a result the loan loss impairment charge for the first half of the year was £42 million versus £23 million for the full year 2008.

Repossessions remained low and totalled 21 for first half of the year, similar to levels experienced in 2008.

US residential mortgages

Citizens Financial Group's (CFG) residential real estate portfolio totalled \$45.9 billion at 30 June 2009 (versus \$50.1 billion at 31 December 2008) comprising \$13.3 billion in first mortgages and \$32.6 billion of home equity loans and lines. Included in this \$4.2 billion decline, is the sale of \$2.4 billion in real estate assets from December through May 2009 to the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) with the remaining fall attributed to pre-payment and declining originations.

CFG has historically adopted conservative risk policies in comparison to the general market. Loan acceptance criteria were tightened further during 2009 to reflect deteriorating economic conditions. Limited exposures to subprime underwriting (FICO <=620, approximately 0.6%), and Alt-A /other non-conforming balances combined with reduced lending to volatile geographic regions have protected the Bank.

Excluding the Serviced By Others portfolio (SBO) of \$6 billion at 30 June 2009, the portfolio average indexed LTV increased to 68% for June 2009, up from 63% in December 2008. *

Due to general US economic conditions, delinquencies in the both home equity and mortgage books are steadily rising. At 30 June 2009, 2.7% of home equity loans and 3.7% of mortgages were one payment or more past due (compared to 1.5% and 1.7% respectively at 31 December 2008). Significant investment has been made in problem debt management capability. Loan modification options are being used where appropriate to support troubled customers, including government-sponsored programmes.

Due to its loan to value and geographic profile, the SBO home equity portfolio continues to be particularly affected by the current economic climate, with net credit losses of \$291 million, equivalent to an annualised 9.4% of balances, in the first half of the year (versus 5.3% in 2008). The LTV trend is obscured by the portfolio's contraction with higher LTV a key driver of losses taken to date: average LTV stood at 101% at 30 June 2009 verses 100% at 31 December 2008. Management action to contain losses through optimising problem debt management performance continues to be a specific focus.

* Prior period figure has been restated to incorporate updated methodology and additional data.

Automotive sector

Exposure to the automotive sector decreased from £13.3 billion at 31 December 2008(1) to £10.8 billion at 30 June 2009.

Credit risk assets by sector £bn %
Original equipment manufacturer / Commercial vehicles 1.9 18
Captive finance companies 0.6 5
Component suppliers 1.5 14
Retail / Services 5.0 46
Rental 1.8 17
Total 10.8 100
Credit risk assets by geography £bn %
Americas 2.4 22
Central Eastern Europe 0.7 6
UK 4.1 38
Western Europe 2.9 27
Asia 0.7 7
Total 10.8 100

The sector faces numerous challenges: its exposure to discretionary consumer spending; historically high leverage; volatile input prices; and ongoing political and societal pressure to reduce fuel emissions forcing fundamental changes to business and franchise models. The Group therefore maintains a cautious stance against the sector and remains focused on larger, more diversified customers. Notwithstanding this approach, the scale of downturn has impacted the performance of the portfolio with negative rating migration and higher default rates occurring.

Over the past six months, the Group's exposure to the large US automobile manufacturers has been subject to close scrutiny and material reductions in direct lending have been achieved. The resulting size and structure of the facilities were such that minimal provisions were required on exposure to these names.

Note:

(1) Prior period figure has been restated to incorporate updated methodology and additional data.

Shipping

The Group's shipping portfolio largely comprises financing exposure, distributed as shown in the table below.

Credit risk assets by sector £bn %
Dry bulk 2.5 25
Tankers 4.2 41
Container 1.1 11
Gas/offshore 1.8 17
Other 0.6 6
Total 10.2 100

88% of exposure (against delivered tonnage) is secured on vessels built in the last 8 years.

Despite the significant fall in asset values and the challenging outlook across all sectors, all shipping loans are performing. The Group's focus on modern assets, with stronger cash flow and liquidity, is reflected in the fact that only £1.5 billion of the portfolio was subject to enhanced monitoring as at 30 June 2009.

Risk and capital management (continued)

Credit risk (continued)

Oil and gas

Credit risk assets by sector £bn %
Vertically integrated 5.9 32
Exploration and production 2.7 14
Oilfield services 2.2 12
Midstream 3.2 17
Refining and marketing 3.1 17
Other 1.5 8
Total 18.6 100

RBS and ABN AMRO had a number of exposures that overlapped, primarily in relation to well rated, vertically integrated companies and several of the larger global exploration and production companies. The Group's strategy is to continue to focus primarily on the more stable midstream and integrated oil sectors, together with well secured exposures to larger exploration and production companies based on a conservative outlook for oil prices that is regularly reassessed. Unsecured exposures are primarily to oil majors and state owned entities.

Asset quality

Loans and advances to customers by geography and industry

The following table analyses the balance sheet carrying value of loans and advances to customers (excluding reverse repurchase agreements and stock borrowing) by industry and geography.

30 June 2009 31 December 30 June
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
UK Domestic
Central and local government 3,302 138 3,440 3,091 3,381
Finance 17,480 7,462 24,942 28,013 17,940
Individuals – home 85,462 2,048 87,510 80,967 79,114
Individuals – other 23,028 1,096 24,124 26,979 27,264
Other commercial and industrial comprising:
- Manufacturing 10,762 1,996 12,758 15,067 14,078
- Construction 5,261 3,513 8,774 10,171 10,565
- Service industries and business activities 42,149 12,532 54,681 58,552 58,938
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing 2,839 86 2,925 2,972 2,969
- Property 17,203 33,623 50,826 52,087 50,301
Finance leases and instalment credit 5,026 11,494 16,520 17,363 15,964
Interest accruals 605 188 793 1,687 1,749
213,117 74,176 287,293 296,949 282,263
UK International
Central and local government 1,213 61 1,274 3,015 1,255
Finance 19,453 3,810 23,263 35,009 23,541
Individuals – other 375 73 448 490 476
Other commercial and industrial comprising:
- Manufacturing 7,436 607 8,043 10,932 7,757
- Construction 2,173 820 2,993 3,255 2,645
- Service industries and business activities 23,161 3,137 26,298 29,782 23,562
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing 133 25 158 146 124
- Property 12,670 9,365 22,035 21,923 18,231
Interest accruals 3 445 448 37 31
66,617 18,343 84,960 104,589 77,622
Overseas
Europe
Central and local government 960 534 1,494 1,830 2,709
Finance 2,619 6,134 8,753 9,731 13,501
Individuals – home 14,461 6,582 21,043 23,394 17,893
Individuals – other 2,387 660 3,047 4,641 4,642
Other commercial and industrial comprising:
- Manufacturing 10,417 6,571 16,988 25,842 15,158
- Construction 2,163 1,670 3,833 5,183 4,674
- Service industries and business activities 25,341 8,195 33,536 40,444 43,463
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing 1,023 64 1,087 1,327 1,297
- Property 9,846 9,627 19,473 19,769 16,108
Finance leases and instalment credit 322 1,187 1,509 1,815 1,705
Interest accruals 220 234 454 798 799
69,759 41,458 111,217 134,774 121,949

Risk and capital management (continued)

Credit risk (continued)

Asset quality (continued)

Loans and advances to customers (continued)

30 June 2009 31 December 30 June
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
US
Central and local government
224 62 286 482 346
Finance 12,924 816 13,740 16,088 12,016
Individuals – home 23,142 4,830 27,972 34,235 26,544
Individuals – other 8,209 3,920 12,129 14,368 10,691
Other commercial and industrial comprising:
- Manufacturing 6,955 1,997 8,952 13,127 8,529
- Construction 407 282 689 885 673
- Service industries and business activities 17,644 4,620 22,264 27,913 18,973
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing 219 2 221 30 24
- Property 1,944 3,906 5,850 6,579 4,731
Finance leases and instalment credit 2,563 35 2,598 3,066 2,308
Interest accruals 236 119 355 471 383
74,467 20,589 95,056 117,244 85,218
Rest of World
Central and local government 375 3 378 7,079 4,942
Finance 8,491 1,378 9,869 11,722 13,968
Individuals – home 397 343 740 795 723
Individuals – other 1,320 560 1,880 4,592 2,853
Other commercial and industrial comprising:
- Manufacturing 3,558 2,380 5,938 6,196 5,001
- Construction 232 423 655 756 231
- Service industries and business activities 7,589 2,264 9,853 13,152 10,674
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing 32 187 219 153 104
- Property 693 1,455 2,148 2,918 2,800
Finance leases and instalment credit 34 6 40 111 34
Interest accruals 87 62 149 270 226
22,808 9,061 31,869 47,744 41,556
Total
Central and local government 6,074 798 6,872 15,497 12,633
Finance 60,967 19,600 80,567 100,563 80,966
Individuals – home 123,462 13,803 137,265 139,391 124,274
Individuals – other 35,319 6,309 41,628 51,070 45,926
Other commercial and industrial comprising:
- Manufacturing 39,128 13,551 52,679 71,164 50,523
- Construction 10,236 6,708 16,944 20,250 18,788
- Service industries and business activities 115,884 30,748 146,632 169,843 155,610
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing 4,246 364 4,610 4,628 4,518
- Property 42,356 57,976 100,332 103,276 92,171
Finance leases and instalment credit 7,945 12,722 20,667 22,355 20,011
Interest accruals 1,151 1,048 2,199 3,263 3,188
Loans and advances to customers – gross 446,768 163,627 610,395 701,300 608,608
Loan impairment provisions (5,449) (8,198) (13,647) (9,324) (5,031)
Total loans and advances to customers 441,319 155,429 596,748 691,976 603,577

Asset quality (continued)

Risk elements in lending

The following table shows the estimated amount of loans classified as non-accrual, accruing past due and potential problem loans. The figures are stated before deducting the value of security held or related provisions.

30 June 2009 31 December 30 June
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
Loans accounted for on a non-accrual basis (2):
- Domestic 5,295 6,676 11,971 8,579 5,940
- Foreign 3,242 12,016 15,258 8,503 2,148
8,537 18,692 27,229 17,082 8,088
Accruing loans which are contractually overdue 90 days or
more as to principal or interest (3):
- Domestic 1,460 984 2,444 1,201 642
- Foreign 244 812 1,056 508 102
1,704 1,796 3,500 1,709 744
Total risk elements in lending 10,241 20,488 30,729 18,791 8,832
Potential problem loans:(4)
- Domestic 110 163 273 218 139
- Foreign 13 10 23 8 2
123 173 296 226 141
Closing provisions for impairment as a % of total risk
elements in lending and potential problem loans
54% 40% 44% 50% 56%
Risk elements in lending as a % of gross lending to
customers excluding reverse repos 2.26% 12.52% 5.04% 2.66% 1.45%
Risk elements in lending and potential problem loans as a %
of gross lending to customers excluding reverse repos 2.29% 12.63% 5.08% 2.69% 1.47%

Notes:

  • (1) For the analysis above, 'Domestic' consists of the United Kingdom domestic transactions of the Group. 'Foreign' comprises the Group's transactions conducted through offices outside the UK and through those offices in the UK specifically organised to service international banking transactions.
  • (2) All loans against which an impairment provision is held are reported in the non-accrual category.
  • (3) Loans where an impairment event has taken place but no impairment recognised. This category is used for fully collateralised non-revolving credit facilities.
  • (4) Loans for which an impairment event has occurred but no impairment provision is necessary. This category is used for fully collateralised advances and revolving credit facilities where identification as 90 days overdue is not feasible.

Impairments

Impairment loss provision methodology

Refer to the Annual Report and Accounts 2008 for information regarding the impairment loss provision methodology.

Impairment charge

The following table shows total impairment losses charged to the income statement.

First half 2009 First half Full year
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
New impairment losses 2,257 5,404 7,661 1,617 7,693
Less: recoveries of amounts previously written off 80 60 140 138 261
Charge to income statement 2,177 5,344 7,521 1,479 7,432
Comprising:
Loan impairment losses 2,170 4,626 6,796 1,406 6,478
Impairment losses on available-for-sale securities 7 718 725 73 954
Charge to income statement 2,177 5,344 7,521 1,479 7,432
First half
2009
£m
First half
2008
£m
Full year
2008
£m
Impairment losses by division:
UK Retail 824 440 1,019
UK Corporate 551 96 321
Wealth 22 5 16
Global Banking & Markets 237 17 541
Global Transaction Services 13 4 48
Ulster Bank 157 18 106
US Retail & Commercial 369 126 437
RBS Insurance 6 - 42
Other (2) (36) (18)
Core 2,177 670 2,512
Non-core 5,344 809 4,920
7,521 1,479 7,432

Analysis of loan impairment charge

First half 2009 First half Full year
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
Latent loss impairment charge 454 270 724 328 769
Collectively assessed impairment charge 1,274 729 2,003 940 2,391
Individually assessed impairment charge (1) 434 3,627 4,061 138 3,200
Charge to income statement 2,162 4,626 6,788 1,406 6,360
Charge as a % of customer loans and advances – gross (2) 0.97% 5.65% 2.22% 0.46% 0.91%

Notes:

(1) Excludes loan impairment charge against loans and advances to banks of £8 million (first half 2008 - nil; full year 2008 - £118 million).

(2) Gross of provisions and excluding reverse repurchase agreements.

Impairments (continued)

Loan impairment provisions

Operating loss is stated after charging loan impairment losses of £6,796 million (first half 2008 - £1,406 million; full year 2008 - £6,478 million). The balance sheet loan impairment provisions increased in the half year ended 30 June 2009 from £9,451 million to £13,773 million, and the movements thereon were:

First half 2009 First half Full year
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
At 1 January 4,905 4,546 9,451 4,956 4,956
Transfers to disposal groups - - - (147) -
Currency translation and other adjustments (529) 24 (505) 72 1,023
Disposals - - - (40) (178)
Amounts written-off (952) (980) (1,932) (1,261) (2,897)
Recoveries of amounts previously written-off 80 60 140 138 261
Charge to the income statement 2,170 4,626 6,796 1,406 6,478
Unwind of discount (99) (78) (177) (90) (192)
Total 5,575 8,198 13,773 5,034 9,451

Provisions at 30 June 2009 include £126 million (31 December 2008 - £127 million; 30 June 2008 - £3 million) in respect of loans and advances to banks.

Analysis of loan impairment provisions

30 June 2009 30 June
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
£m £m £m £m £m
Latent loss provisions 1,477 822 2,299 1,719 859
Collectively assessed provisions 3,219 1,334 4,553 3,692 3,134
Individually assessed provisions 753 6,042 6,795 3,913 1,038
Total provisions (1) 5,449 8,198 13,647 9,324 5,031
Total provision as a % of customer loans and
advances – gross (2) 1.2% 5.0% 2.2% 1.3% 0.8%

Notes:

(1) Excludes provisions against loans and advances to banks of £126 million (31 December 2008 - £127 million; 30 June 2008 - £3 million).

(2) Gross of provisions and excluding reverse repurchase agreements.

Provisions coverage

The Group's provision coverage ratios are shown in the table below.

30 June 2009 31 December 30 June
Core Non-core Total 2008 2008
Total provision expressed as a:
% of REIL 54% 40% 45% 50% 57%
% of REIL and PPL 54% 40% 44% 50% 56%

Liquidity risk

The policy of the Group is to ensure that it is able to meet its obligations as they fall due.

The Group has an approved risk appetite supported by explicit targets and metrics to control the size and extent of both short term liquidity and long term funding risk. The Group Asset and Liability Committee (GALCO) chaired by the Group Finance Director has the responsibility to set Group policy and ensure that this is cascaded and communicated to the business divisions.

Group Treasury is the functional area with responsibility for the monitoring and control of the Group's funding and liquidity positions. Group Treasury is supported by a governance process that includes a weekly Liquidity Risk forum comprising functional areas across the organisation responsible for liquidity management, and divisional and regional asset and liability committees.

Structural balance sheet management

The maturity mismatch between deposits and lending is limited and controlled by policies aimed at ensuring assets can be funded over the term of their economic life. The mismatch analysis takes into account the impact of behaviour under normal and stress conditions to evaluate the appropriate balance of funding resources.

Stress testing

The Group uses stress tests as a tool to evaluate the impact of both disrupted market conditions and specific events to measure the impact both on, and off, balance sheet. The stress tests show the degree of resilience in times of stress and the ability for contingency actions to mitigate stressed conditions. The assumptions and nature of the risks driving the stress tests are refined and updated in the light of changing conditions.

Contingency planning

Contingency plans are developed to anticipate the potential for deterioration in market conditions and ensure that the Group has considered how it can respond to adverse developments. The contingency plan considers actions including the use of liquid assets, reduction in lending commitments, increased deposit balances and the use of collateral and management of derivative exposures.

Global developments in 2009

Liquidity conditions in money and debt markets have improved significantly since the beginning of Q2 2009. Following a difficult first quarter, most indicators of stresses in financial markets are close to or better than before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Contributing to the improvement has been a combination of ongoing central bank and other official liquidity support schemes, guarantee schemes and rate cuts. Signs of improvement in underlying macroeconomic trends also helped to sustain a recovery in markets for risky assets, including in debt markets.

Policy rates have reached low levels for the economic cycle in the major currency areas. Unsecured interbank rates, as benchmarked by Libor/Euribor have fallen to all-time lows – 3 month rates are now well below 1% for prime banks in the G3 currency areas. Trading activity at longer term maturities has also picked up and interbank repo of non-government collateral appears to have recovered strongly following the severe stress experienced in 2008. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's ('FDIC') Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program ('TLGP') allowed around \$300 billion of debt to be issued by US financial firms in the first half of the year. A similar amount has been issued by European banks, mostly in EUR and USD, covered by institutions' respective home-country guarantee initiatives. However in recent months unguaranteed financial debt issuance, including bank capital has become possible and guaranteed issuance has slowed markedly since May.

Liquidity risk (continued)

Important developments in central bank liquidity programmes since February include:

  • In the UK, the Bank of England reduced interest rates to 0.5% in March, and later the same month the Bank of England initiated 'quantitative easing' through its Asset Purchase Facility. Gilt purchases dominate activity to date, while direct purchases of commercial paper and corporate bonds have been relatively small.
  • In the US, the Federal Reserve has maintained its target for the funds rate at 0-0.25% while supplementing its credit-easing programmes with a new Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility ('TALF') although initial take up of the TALF has been slow.
  • In the Euro Area, the European Central Bank ('ECB') decided in early May to hold three 1-year repo operations against its general collateral list. The first of these was received enthusiastically in June, resulting in significant supply of ECB liquidity to the banking system and bringing downward pressure on short term rates.

Liquidity management

The reduction in the size of the overall funded balance sheet of the Group has reduced reliance on wholesale funding markets. The funding markets have been recovering throughout the course of 2009 and this has eased pressure on the funding position of the Group. The improvements in the markets have enabled the Group to issue £4.9 billion of unguaranteed term debt with maturity beyond 12 months and there has been a reduction of funding in short term debt markets. The structure of the balance sheet has improved and the gap between customer loans and customer deposits (excluding repos) fell by £49,325 million from £240,982 million as at 31 December 2008 to £191,657 million as at 30 June 2009. As a result, the loan to deposit ratio reduced from 152.4% to 144.5%.

The Group continues to develop diversified sources of funding across its retail, corporate and wholesale franchises in line with the strategy to rely more on retail and other customer funds to support its lending business.

The Group will seek to build on this improvement in its funding position in the expectation that trading in term markets improve providing the opportunity to increase the maturity profile of wholesale liabilities.

First half
Full year
2009
2008
£m % £m %
Deposits by Banks 135,601 16.3 178,943 18.8
Debt securities in issue:
Commercial paper 49,270 5.9 69,891 7.3
Certificates of deposits 76,095 9.2 73,925 7.8
MTNs 104,190 12.5 94,298 9.9
Other (bonds) 4,394 0.5 14,231 1.5
Securitisations 14,761 1.8 17,113 1.8
248,710 29.9 269,458 28.3
Subordinated debt 32,106 3.9 43,678 4.6
Total wholesale funding 416,417 50.1 492,079 51.7
Customer deposits 415,267 49.9 460,318 48.3
Total 831,684 100.0 952,397 100.0

Customer accounts

Customer accounts are the largest source of funding for the Group and are highly diversified across both retail and corporate franchises, representing a stable source of core funding. The level of customer deposits decreased over the period from £460,318 million at 31 December 2008 to £415,267 million at 30 June 2009.

Liquidity risk (continued)

Repo agreements

The repo market represents borrowings that are secured against a range of debt assets and other securities. Repo activity represents an ongoing source of financing activity and the market has not stabilised.

Debt securities in issue and subordinated liabilities

The proportion of outstanding debt instruments issued, with a remaining maturity of greater than 12 months has increased from 45% in 31 December 2008 to 47% in June 2009 reflecting a lengthening of the maturity profile of debt issuance over the period.

First half
2009
Full year
2008
£m % £m %
Less than one year 149,265 53.2 172,234 55.0
1-5 years 67,390 24.0 61,842 19.8
More than 5 years 64,161 22.8 79,060 25.2
Total 280,816 100.0 313,136 100.0

The reduction in the amount of debt instruments with maturities of less than one year reflects the Group's strategy to reduce its reliance on short-term markets and instruments coupled with favourable exchange rate movements. The net movement in maturities of greater than one year is mainly as a result of the exchange and tender offers completed in April 2009 partially offset by new debt issuance.

Short term debt and bank deposits

The short term debt markets have improved markedly over the course of 2009 and the Group has been able to readily access this source of funding with increased maturities and reduced costs of spread. This easing of market conditions has enabled the Group to reduce reliance on central bank facilities and move toward its strategic objective of self reliance in the markets.

Undrawn commitments

The Group has seen a decrease in undrawn commitments from £352 billion at 31 December 2008 to £299 billion at 30 June 2009 both as a result of the strengthening of sterling against the US dollar and the euro as well as decreased volumes. The decrease in volumes is consistent with the strategic objective to reduce liquidity risk in off-balance sheet activity.

Conduits

The Group has a multi seller conduit business that funds assets through the issuance of short term asset backed commercial paper. The total of assets held in Group sponsored conduits fell from £49.9 billion at December 2008 to £35.0 billion at 30 June 2009 as the Group reduced its exposure to this business in line with strategy.

Market risk

Market risk arises from changes in interest rates, foreign currency, credit spread, equity prices and risk related factors such as market volatilities. The Group manages market risk centrally within its trading and treasury portfolios through a comprehensive market risk management framework. This framework contains limits based on, but not limited to: value-at-risk (VaR), scenario analysis, position and sensitivity analyses.

The Group discloses market risk in VaR terms. VaR is a measure that produces estimates of the potential change in the market value of a portfolio over a specified time horizon at given confidence levels. The Group uses a historical simulation methodology with a two year time horizon and a 99% confidence level.

At the Group level the risk appetite is expressed in the form of a combination of VaR, sensitivity and scenario limits. The Group recently changed its VaR confidence level from 95% to 99% as it believes this provides greater clarity in respect of potential economic outcomes. The table below sets out VaR for the Group's portfolios with prior periods restated to reflect the 99% confidence level for consistency and comparability.

The Group continued to update and enhance its market risk management framework during the first half of 2009. In addition to the move to VaR based on a 99% confidence level, the Group has improved and strengthened its market risk limit framework, increasing the transparency of market price risk taken across the Group's businesses in both the trading and non-trading portfolios.

The Group's market risk appetite is defined within this limit framework which is cascaded down through legal entity, division, business and ultimately trader level market risk limits.

The VaR disclosure is broken down into trading and non-trading (referred to in previous disclosures as Treasury VaR), where trading VaR relates to the main trading activities of the Group and non-trading reflects the VaR associated with reclassified assets, money market business and the management of internet funds flow within the Group's businesses.

As part of the Strategic Review announced on 26 February 2009, the designation of assets between Core and Non-Core divisions was completed during the period. The period end Core/Non-Core VaR as of 30 June 2009 shown below reflects the conclusion of this process. Average, Maximum and Minimum VaR for Core/Non-Core are measures that require daily data. The Non-Core division was not defined at the start of the period and average, maximum and minimum VaR are measures that require daily data. These three measures have been prepared on a best efforts basis and reflect the process of designating Non-Core assets.

Average Period end Maximum Minimum
£m £m £m £m
Trading VaR (pro forma and statutory basis)
Interest rate 65.6 81.4 112.8 42.5
Credit spread 125.3 199.6 231.2 66.9
Currency 17.7 15.6 35.8 9.2
Equity 13.0 11.7 21.6 8.3
Commodity 12.7 11.5 21.4 6.5
Diversification effects (129.2)
30 June 2009 143.3 190.6 229.0 76.8
Core (30 June 2009) 99.6 94.3 135.6 54.2
Non-Core (30 June 2009) 77.3 130.4 166.5 28.6

Market risk (continued)

Average Period end Maximum Minimum
£m £m £m £m
Interest rate 38.7 54.4 94.0 18.2
Credit spread 71.5 61.5 130.8 51.7
Currency 7.6 17.0 18.0 3.5
Equity 22.4 18.3 42.6 11.0
Commodity 9.9 10.0 25.8 0.2
Diversification effects (52.4)
31 December 2008 82.3 108.8 155.7 49.3
Interest rate 29.1 33.7 56.1 18.2
Credit spread 72.7 75.5 96.3 51.7
Currency 6.0 7.1 8.6 3.5
Equity 23.1 19.9 42.6 11.0
Commodity 9.5 23.0 25.3 0.2
Diversification effects (67.7)
30 June 2008 70.4 91.5 106.0 49.3
Average Period end Maximum Minimum
£m £m £m £m
Non-trading VaR (pro forma and statutory basis)
Interest rate 17.6 16.6 26.1 12.9
Credit spread 198.9 205.4 270.3 65.4
Currency 1.2 1.1 3.8 0.2
Equity 4.0 3.7 7.2 2.2
Diversification effects (27.0)
30 June 2009 199.6 199.8 274.9 76.1
Core (30 June 2009) 82.6 81.6 133.5 55.0
Non-Core (30 June 2009) 123.1 132.6 145.3 20.2
Interest rate 10.6 24.4 32.9 5.2
Credit spread 10.5 65.2 65.2 5.5
Currency 0.6 2.2 5.7 0.1
Equity 3.4 7.0 8.0 0.8
Diversification effects (22.7)
31 December 2008 14.8 76.1 76.1 7.7
Average
£m
Period end
£m
Maximum
£m
Minimum
£m
Interest rate 7.4 9.1 10.2 5.2
Credit spread
Currency
7.7
0.4
7.0
0.3
10.6
1.0
5.6
0.2
Equity 1.7 1.7 2.6 0.8
Diversification effects (8.7)
30 June 2008 10.0 9.4 13.4 7.7

Market risk (continued)

The data in the tables above exclude exposures to super senior tranches of asset-backed CDOs, as VaR does not provide an appropriate measure of risk for these exposures due to the continued illiquidity and opaqueness of pricing of these instruments. For these exposures, the maximum potential loss is equal to the aggregate net exposure of £548 million at 30 June 2009. For more information, please refer to market turmoil exposure - Super senior CDOs on page 130 and Note 11, Financial instruments - collateralised debt obligations.

The Group uses the most recent two years of market data in its VaR model. Accordingly the VaR at June 2009 incorporates all of the market volatility experienced since the credit crisis began in August 2007. On average this means that a given underlying risk position expressed in VaR terms will be considerably larger than previously reported. If one assumes future volatility declines in comparison to the average over the last two years then the half year may well represent a peak VaR number for a given position. The Group has reduced its underlying trading positions in the first half of 2009, but the increase in market volatility factored into the VaR calculation has more than offset this; consequently the Trading VaR has increased when compared with previous periods.

Non-Core credit spread trading VaR increased materially during the period, not only for the reason described above, but also owing to additional hedges against the risk of counterparty failure. As this counterparty risk is itself not in VaR, these hedges increase reported VaR.

The non-trading VaR increased not only because of more volatile market data in the VaR models, but also as a result of reclassification of certain trading portfolio assets.

The Group's VaR should be interpreted in light of the limitations of the methodologies used, detailed as follows:

  • Historical Simulation VaR may not provide the best estimate of future market movements. It can only provide a prediction of the future based on events that occurred in the two year time series. Therefore, events that are more severe than those in the historical data series cannot be predicted.
  • VaR that uses a 99% confidence level does not reflect the extent of potential losses beyond that percentile.
  • VaR uses a one-day time horizon which will not fully capture the profit and loss implications of positions that cannot be liquidated or hedged within one day.
  • The Group computes the VaR of trading portfolios at the close of business. Positions may change substantially during the course of the trading day and intraday profit and losses will be incurred.

These limitations mean that the Group cannot guarantee that losses will not exceed the VaR.

Market risk (continued)

The following table details the combined other than trading (non-trading businesses and retail and commercial banking activities) VaR at a 99% confidence level, which relates mainly to interest rate risk and credit spreads.

Statutory basis Average
£m
Period end
£m
Maximum
£m
Minimum
£m
30 June 2009 187.2 190.6 203.2 177.3
31 December 2008 133.1 134.9 197.0 86.4

Structural interest rate and currency VaR (statutory basis)

Structural interest rate risks mainly arise in retail and commercial banking assets and liabilities.

Statutory basis Average
£m
Period end
£m
Maximum
£m
Minimum
£m
30 June 2009 91.3 100.4 112.5 69.3
31 December 2008 128.1 60.1 194.6 60.3
30 June
2009
Statutory basis £m
EUR 39.3
GBP 25.2
USD 83.8
Other 5.1

Currency risk (statutory basis)

The Group does not maintain material non-trading open currency positions other than the structural foreign currency translation exposures arising from its investments in foreign subsidiaries and associated undertakings and their related currency funding. The Group's policy in relation to structural positions is to match fund the structural foreign currency exposure arising from net asset value, including goodwill, in foreign subsidiaries, equity accounted investments and branches, except where doing so would materially increase the sensitivity of either the Group's or the subsidiary's regulatory capital ratios to currency movements. The policy requires structural foreign exchange positions to be reviewed regularly by GALCO. GALCO approves open structural exposures, primarily in USD and EUR and expressed in currency notional amounts, which are sufficient to reduce the sensitivity of regulatory capital ratios to exchange rate movements within defined tolerance limits.

Foreign exchange differences arising on the translation of foreign operations are recognised directly in equity together with the effective portion of foreign exchange differences arising on hedging instruments.

Equity classification of foreign currency denominated preference share issuances requires that these shares be held on the balance sheet at historic cost. Consequently, these share issuances have the effect of increasing the Group's structural foreign currency position.

See the Annual Report and Accounts 2008 for background on the Group's structural currency risk exposures.

The tables below set out the Group's structural foreign currency exposures.

Net assets of
overseas
Minority Net investments
in foreign
Net
investment
Structural foreign
currency
30 June 2009 operations
£m
Interests
£m
operations
£m
hedges
£m
exposures
£m
US dollar 15,551 (3) 15,554 (3,330) 12,224
Euro 18,282 13,619 4,663 (1,300) 3,363
Other non sterling 5,639 536 5,103 (3,585) 1,518
Total 39,472 14,152 25,320 (8,215) 17,105
31 December 2008
US dollar 17,480 (19) 17,499 (3,659) 13,840
Euro 26,943 15,431 11,512 (7,461) 4,051
Chinese RMB 3,928 1,898 2,030 (1,082) 948
Other non sterling 5,088 621 4,467 (3,096) 1,371
Total 53,439 17,931 35,508 (15,298) 20,210

Retranslation gains and losses on the Group's net investments in operations, together with those on instruments hedging these investments, are recognised directly in equity. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates will affect equity in proportion to the structural foreign currency exposure. A five percent strengthening of foreign currencies would result in a gain of £900 million (31 December 2008 – £1,010 million) recognised in equity. A five percent weakening of foreign currencies would result in a loss of £810 million (31 December 2008 – £960 million) recognised in equity. There are no Chinese RMB exposures at 30 June 2009 following the sale of the Group's interest in Bank of China. These movements in equity would offset retranslation effects on the Group's foreign currency denominated risk weighted assets, reducing the sensitivity of the Group's tier 1 capital ratio to movements in foreign currency exchange rates.

Market turmoil exposures

Explanatory note

These disclosures are focused around certain of the Group's exposures which have been particularly affected by the widespread market disruptions. They reflect the recommendations in the report of the Financial Stability Forum on Enhancing Market and Institutional Resilience and Committee of European Banking Supervisors report on banks' transparency on activities and products affected by the recent market turmoil.

Acronyms used in Market turmoil exposures section

The following acronyms are used in this section

ABCP Asset-backed commercial paper
ABS Asset-backed security
CDO Collateralised debt obligation
CDPC Credit derivative product company
CDS Credit default swap
CLO Collateralised loan obligation
CP Commercial paper
CMBS Commercial mortgage-backed security
Fannie Mae Federal National Mortgage Association
Freddie Mac Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
Ginnie Mae Government National Mortgage Association
GSE Government Sponsored Entity
IASB International Accounting Standards Board
RoW Rest of the world, excluding Europe and US
RMBS Residential mortgage-backed security
SIV Structured investment vehicle
SPE Special purpose entity
US agencies Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and similar entities

Asset-backed exposures

The carrying value of the Group's debt securities at 30 June 2009 was £229.1 billion compared to £253.2 billion at 31 December 2008 ('2008'). This comprised securities issued by central and local governments of £104.7 billion (2008 - £95.0 billion), asset-backed securities of £90.5 billion (2008 - £111.1 billion), £13.4 billion (2008 - £15.0 billion) of securities issued by banks and building societies and £20.5 billion (2008 - £32.0 billion) issued by corporates, US federal agencies and other entities. This section focuses on asset-backed securities, an area of interest following the market dislocations in 2008.

The Group's credit market activities give rise to risk concentrations that have been particularly affected by the market turmoil experienced since the second half of 2007. The Group structures, originates, distributes and trades debt in the form of loan, bond and derivative instruments in all major currencies and debt capital markets in North America, Western Europe, Asia and major emerging markets.

The tables below summarise the net exposures and balance sheet carrying values of these securities by measurement classification, product and geography of underlying assets at 30 June 2009 ('2009') and 31 December 2008.

Loans and Designated at fair
Held-for-trading Available-for-sale receivables value Total
2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Net exposure (1)
RMBS: G10 governments (2) 16,228 18,631 29,649 32,926 - - - - 45,877 51,557
RMBS: other 4,003 5,831 7,559 11,524 2,602 2,578 133 182 14,297 20,115
CMBS 1,326 1,178 1,531 918 1,413 1,437 193 13 4,463 3,546
CDOs & CLOs 961 2,463 1,751 2,538 890 1,282 1 - 3,603 6,283
Other ABS 461 195 4,466 6,572 3,841 3,621 16 40 8,784 10,428
Total 22,979 28,298 44,956 54,478 8,746 8,918 343 235 77,024 91,929
Carrying value:
RMBS: G10 governments (2) 16,228 18,631 29,649 32,926 - - - - 45,877 51,557
RMBS: other 5,962 9,218 7,839 11,865 2,602 2,618 133 182 16,536 23,883
CMBS 2,241 2,751 1,704 1,126 1,413 1,437 204 13 5,562 5,327
CDOs & CLOs 6,629 7,774 5,159 9,579 890 1,284 1 - 12,679 18,637
Other ABS 1,479 1,505 4,466 6,572 3,841 3,621 16 41 9,802 11,739
Total 32,539 39,879 48,817 62,068 8,746 8,960 354 236 90,456 111,143

Notes:

(1) Net exposures represent the carrying value after taking account of hedge protection purchased from monolines and other counterparties but exclude the effect of counterparty credit valuation adjustments. The hedges provide credit protection of principal and interest cash flows in the event of default by the counterparty. The value of this protection is based on the underlying instrument being protected.

(2) RMBS: G10 government securities comprises securities that are:

(a) guaranteed or effectively guaranteed by the US government, via its support for US federal agencies and GSEs.

(b) guaranteed by the Dutch government.

(c) covered bonds, referencing primarily Dutch and Spanish government-backed loans.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Asset-backed exposures (continued)

US UK Europe RoW Total
2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Net exposure:
RMBS: G10 governments 30,798 33,508 271 321 14,771 17,682 37 46 45,877 51,557
RMBS: other 4,589 7,012 5,521 6,981 3,728 5,592 459 530 14,297 20,115
CMBS 2,691 1,147 1,115 1,225 618 1,095 39 79 4,463 3,546
CDOs& CLOs 1,886 3,276 124 386 1,578 2,450 15 171 3,603 6,283
Other ABS 2,392 3,508 1,154 1,368 4,644 4,299 594 1,253 8,784 10,428
Total 42,356 48,451 8,185 10,281 25,339 31,118 1,144 2,079 77,024 91,929
Carrying value:
RMBS: G10 governments 30,798 33,508 271 321 14,771 17,682 37 46 45,877 51,557
RMBS: other 5,067 8,558 6,243 8,105 4,719 6,593 507 627 16,536 23,883
CMBS 3,201 2,144 1,199 1,395 1,017 1,646 145 142 5,562 5,327
CDOs & CLOs 10,094 14,703 224 588 2,185 3,046 176 300 12,679 18,637
Other ABS 2,966 3,582 1,252 1,622 4,694 5,098 890 1,437 9,802 11,739
Total 52,126 62,495 9,189 12,031 27,386 34,065 1,755 2,552 90,456 111,143

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Asset-backed exposures (continued)

Asset backed securities ('ABS') are securities with an interest in an underlying pool of referenced assets. The risks and rewards of the referenced pool are passed on to investors by the issue by a special purpose entity of securities with varying seniority. The tables below analyse carrying values of the Group's ABS by rating, measurement classification and fair value hierarchy level.

RMBS
G10 govern Non CDOs
ments Prime conformingSub-prime CMBS & CLOs Other ABS Total
30 June 2009 £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
AAA rated:(1)
Held-for-trading 16,228 4,317 194 306 1,789 3,816 486 27,136
Available-for-sale 29,261 4,786 706 401 1,311 4,014 3,341 43,820
Loans and receivables - 582 1,327 194 229 320 939 3,591
Designated at fair value - 120 - 13 199 - - 332
45,489 9,805 2,227 914 3,528 8,150 4,766 74,879
BBB- and above rated:(1)
Held-for-trading - 640 67 230 416 771 634 2,758
Available-for-sale 388 867 245 200 271 461 988 3,420
Loans and receivables - 163 156 159 1,169 549 1,972 4,168
Designated at fair value - - - - 5 - 16 21
388 1,670 468 589 1,861 1,781 3,610 10,367
Non-investment grade:(1)
Held-for-trading - 24 91 92 36 1,439 70 1,752
Available-for-sale - 257 265 111 3 411 17 1,064
Loans and receivables - 6 5 10 7 - 285 313
Designated at fair value - - - - - - - -
- 287 361 213 46 1,850 372 3,129
Not publicly rated:
Held-for-trading - 1 - - - 603 289 893
Available-for-sale - - 1 - 119 273 120 513
Loans and receivables - - - - 8 21 645 674
Designated at fair value - - - - - 1 - 1
- 1 1 - 127 898 1,054 2,081
Total:
Held-for-trading 16,228 4,982 352 628 2,241 6,629 1,479 32,539
Available-for-sale 29,649 5,910 1,217 712 1,704 5,159 4,466 48,817
Loans and receivables - 751 1,488 363 1,413 890 3,841 8,746
Designated at fair value - 120 - 13 204 1 16 354
Total 45,877 11,763 3,057 1,716 5,562 12,679 9,802 90,456
Of which carried at fair
value:
Level 2(2) 45,877 10,562 1,559 1,342 3,794 9,611 5,301 78,046
Level 3(3) - 448 11 11 355 2,180 658 3,663
45,877 11,010 1,570 1,353 4,149 11,791 5,959 81,709

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Asset-backed exposures (continued)

RMBS
G10 govern Non Sub CDOs Other
ments Prime conforming prime CMBS & CLOs ABS Total
31 December 2008 £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
AAA rated:(1)
Held-for-trading 18,622 6,226 203 393 2,306 4,698 380 32,828
Available-for-sale 32,926 8,384 1,914 522 982 6,459 4,826 56,013
Loans and receivables - 476 1,415 431 405 652 1,443 4,822
Designated at fair value - 166 - 16 9 - - 191
51,548 15,252 3,532 1,362 3,702 11,809 6,649 93,854
BBB- and above rated:(1)
Held-for-trading - 985 79 564 407 1,439 890 4,364
Available-for-sale - 338 194 267 144 1,642 1,292 3,877
Loans and receivables - 94 64 105 1,031 561 1,296 3,151
Designated at fair value - - - - 4 - 41 45
- 1,417 337 936 1,586 3,642 3,519 11,437
Non-investment grade:(1)
Held-for-trading - 59 69 636 38 1,299 120 2,221
Available-for-sale - 47 74 124 - 1,057 50 1,352
Loans and receivables - - 3 30 - - 72 105
Designated at fair value - - - - - - - -
- 106 146 790 38 2,356 242 3,678
Not publicly rated:
Held-for-trading 9 2 1 1 - 338 115 466
Available-for-sale - - 1 - - 421 404 826
Loans and receivables - - - - 1 71 810 882
Designated at fair value - - - - - - - -
9 2 2 1 1 830 1,329 2,174
Total:
Held-for-trading 18,631 7,272 352 1,594 2,751 7,774 1,505 39,879
Available-for-sale 32,926 8,769 2,183 913 1,126 9,579 6,572 62,068
Loans and receivables - 570 1,482 566 1,437 1,284 3,621 8,960
Designated at fair value - 166 - 16 13 - 41 236
Total 51,557 16,777 4,017 3,089 5,327 18,637 11,739 111,143
Of which carried at fair value:
Level 2(2) 51,322 16,062 2,485 2,459 3,316 14,643 6,677 96,964
Level 3(3) 235 145 50 64 574 2,710 1,441 5,219
51,557 16,207 2,535 2,523 3,890 17,353 8,118 102,183

Notes:

(1) Credit ratings are based on those from rating agencies Standard & Poor's (S&P). Moody's and Fitch and have been mapped onto the S&P scale.

(2) Valuation is based significantly on observable market data. Instruments in this category are valued using:

(a) quoted prices for identical instruments in markets which are not considered to be active; or quoted prices for similar instruments trading in active or not so active markets; or

(b) valuation techniques where all the inputs that have a significant effect on the valuation are directly or indirectly based on observable market data.

(3) Instruments in this category have been valued using a valuation technique where at least one input which could have a significant effect on the instrument's valuation is not based on observable market data.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Residential mortgage-backed securities

Residential mortgage backed securities ('RMBS') are securities that represent an interest in a portfolio of residential mortgages. Repayments made on the underlying mortgages are used to make payments to holders of the RMBS. The risk of the RMBS will vary primarily depending on the quality of the underlying mortgages and the credit enhancement in the securitisation structure.

Several tranches of notes are issued, each secured against the same portfolio of mortgages, but providing differing levels of seniority to match the risk appetite of investors. The most junior (or equity) notes will suffer early capital and interest losses experienced by the referenced mortgage collateral, with each more senior note benefiting from the protection provided by the subordinated notes below. Additional credit enhancements may be provided to the holder of senior RMBS notes, including guarantees over the value of the exposures, often provided by monoline insurers.

The Group's ABS are analysed below by geographic region and nature of collateral. The US market has more established definitions for the quality of the underlying mortgage collateral and these are used as the basis for the Group's RMBS categorisation:

G10 governments – collateral comprises guaranteed mortgages and covered mortgage bonds. Guaranteed mortgages are mortgages that form part of a mortgage backed security issuance by a government agency, or in the US, an entity that benefits from a guarantee (direct or indirect) provided by the US government. For US RMBS, this category includes, amongst others, RMBS issued by US agencies such as Ginnie Mae, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. For European RMBS this includes mortgages guaranteed by the Dutch government. Covered mortgage bonds, primarily referencing Dutch and Spanish government-backed loans, are debt instruments that have recourse to a pool of mortgage assets, where investors have a preferred claim if a default occurs. These underlying assets are segregated from the other assets held by the issuing entity.

Prime – the underlying mortgages are of a higher credit quality than non-conforming and sub-prime mortgages (see below), but exclude G10 government mortgages.

Non-conforming (or 'Alt-A' used for US exposures) – the underlying mortgages have a higher credit quality than sub-prime mortgages, but lower than those for prime borrowers. Within the US mortgage industry, nonconforming mortgages are those that do not meet the lending criteria for US agency mortgages (described above). For non-US mortgages, judgement is applied in identifying loans with similar characteristics to US non-conforming loans, and also includes self-certified loans. Alt-A describes a category of mortgages in which lenders consider the risk to be greater than prime mortgages though less than sub-prime. The offered interest rate is usually representative of the associated risk level.

Sub-prime – the underlying mortgages are loans to sub-prime borrowers typically having weakened credit histories that include payment delinquencies, and potentially more severe problems such as court judgements and bankruptcies. They may also display reduced repayment capacity as measured by credit scores, high debtto-income ratios, or other criteria indicating heightened risk of default.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Residential mortgage-backed securities (continued)

The tables below shows the Group's RMBS net exposures and carrying values by underlying asset type, measurement classification, the geographical location of the property securing the mortgage and the year in which the underlying securitisation was originated.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
G10 G10
govern Non Sub govern Non Sub
ments Prime conforming prime Total ments Prime conforming prime Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Total
Net exposure:(1)
Held-for-trading 16,228 3,218 346 439 20,231 18,631 5,140 346 345 24,462
Available-for-sale 29,649 5,910 1,217 432 37,208 32,926 8,768 2,184 572 44,450
Loans and
receivables - 751 1,488 363 2,602 - 569 1,482 527 2,578
Designated at
fair value - 120 - 13 133 - 166 - 16 182
45,877 9,999 3,051 1,247 60,174 51,557 14,643 4,012 1,460 71,672
Carrying values:(2)
Held-for-trading 16,228 4,982 352 628 22,190 18,631 7,272 352 1,594 27,849
Available-for-sale 29,649 5,910 1,217 712 37,488 32,926 8,769 2,183 913 44,791
Loans and
receivables - 751 1,488 363 2,602 - 570 1,482 566 2,618
Designated at
fair value - 120 - 13 133 - 166 - 16 182
45,877 11,763 3,057 1,716 62,413 51,557 16,777 4,017 3,089 75,440

Notes:

(1) Net exposures represent the carrying value after taking account of hedge protection purchased from monolines and other counterparties but excludes the effect of counterparty credit valuation adjustment. Carrying value is the amount recorded on the balance sheet.

  • (2) Carrying value is the amount recorded on the balance sheet.
  • (3) G10 government RMBS net exposures and carrying values include:
  • (a) £6.7 billion (2008 £7.6 billion) available-for-sale exposures guaranteed by the Dutch government.

(b) £6.9 billion (2008 - £5.7 billion) guaranteed by the US government via Ginnie Mae of which £1.1 billion (2008 - £0.5 billion) are held-for-trading.

(c) £23.8 billion (2008 - £ 27.8 million) effectively guaranteed by the US government by way of its support for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae of which £15.1 billon (2008 - £18.1 billion) are held-for-trading.

(d) £8.0 billion (2008 - £10.0 billion) all classified as available-for-sale, covered bonds.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Residential mortgage-backed securities (continued)

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
US US Sub
agency Prime Alt-A Sub-prime Total agency Prime Alt-A prime Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
United States
Net exposure:
Held-for-trading 16,191 433 346 439 17,409 18,577 968 346 302 20,193
Available-for-sale 14,607 2,667 566 51 17,891 14,932 4,364 760 53 20,109
Loans and
receivables - 84 - 3 87 - 215 - 3 218
30,798 3,184 912 493 35,387 33,509 5,547 1,106 358 40,520
Carrying values:
Held-for-trading 16,191 490 353 575 17,609 18,577 1,043 352 1,427 21,399
Available-for-sale 14,607 2,668 566 328 18,169 14,932 4,364 760 394 20,450
Loans and
receivables - 84 - 3 87 - 215 - 3 218
30,798 3,242 919 906 35,865 33,509 5,622 1,112 1,824 42,067
Of which originated in:
2004 and earlier 8,260 701 95 308 9,364 5,534 709 122 474 6,839
2005 3,131 801 501 164 4,597 6,014 2,675 718 259 9,666
2006 1,039 925 105 187 2,256 1,690 614 115 718 3,136
2007 and later 18,368 815 218 247 19,648 20,271 1,624 157 373 22,425
30,798 3,242 919 906 35,865 33,509 5,622 1,112 1,824 42,067
30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Non Sub Non Sub
Guaranteed Prime conforming prime Total Guaranteed Prime conforming prime Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
United Kingdom
Net exposure:
Held-for-trading - 239 - - 239 9 249 - 33 291
Available-for-sale 271 2,493 651 79 3,494 313 3,133 1,423 154 5,023
Loans and receivables - 314 1,364 248 1,926 - 118 1,482 205 1,805
Designated at fair
value - 120 - 13 133 - 166 - 16 182
271 3,166 2,015 340 5,792 322 3,666 2,905 408 7,301
Carrying values:
Held-for-trading - 954 - 5 959 9 1,336 - 70 1,415
Available-for-sale 271 2,493 651 81 3,496 313 3,133 1,423 154 5,023
Loans and receivables - 314 1,364 248 1,926 - 118 1,482 205 1,805
Designated at fair
value - 120 - 13 133 - 166 - 16 182
271 3,881 2,015 347 6,514 322 4,753 2,905 445 8,425
Of which originated in:
2004 and earlier 7 273 - 32 312 9 806 - 72 887
2005 - 776 - 24 800 - 1,000 652 42 1,694
2006 8 1,957 464 127 2,556 13 2,295 756 209 3,273
2007 and later 256 875 1,551 164 2,846 300 652 1,497 122 2,571
271 3,881 2,015 347 6,514 322 4,753 2,905 445 8,425

125

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Residential mortgage-backed securities (continued)

31 December 2008
Covered Prime and
non
Guaranteed
(1)
bonds
(2)
conforming
(3)
Sub
prime
Total Guaranteed Covered
Europe £m £m £m £m £m (1)
£m
bonds (2)
£m
£m Prime Sub-prime
£m
Total
£m
Net exposure
Held-for-trading - - 2,542 - 2,542 - - 3,898 10 3,908
Available-for-sale 6,722 8,049 592 41 15,404 7,642 10,040 1,106 57 18,845
Loans and receivables - - 450 103 553 - - 208 313 521
6,722 8,049 3,584 144 18,499 7,642 10,040 5,212 380 23,274
Carrying values
Held-for-trading - - 3,525 8 3,533 - - 4,839 30 4,869
Available-for-sale 6,722 8,049 592 41 15,404 7,642 10,040 1,107 57 18,846
Loans and receivables - - 451 102 553 - - 208 352 560
6,722 8,049 4,568 151 19,490 7,642 10,040 6,154 439 24,275
Of which originated in:
2004 and earlier 377 632 684 25 1,718 418 702 954 48 2,122
2005 1,033 2,364 754 27 4,178 1,165 2,993 1,090 17 5,265
2006 1,758 3,822 1,585 84 7,249 2,059 4,466 2,466 148 9,139
2007 and later 3,554 1,231 1,545 15 6,345 4,000 1,879 1,644 226 7,749
6,722 8,049 4,568 151 19,490 7,642 10,040 6,154 439 24,275

Notes:

(1) Guaranteed by the Dutch government

(2) Covered bonds referencing primarily Dutch and Spanish mortgages

(3) Non-conforming net exposures and carrying values: £123 million at 30 June 2009 (2008 – nil)

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Residential mortgage-backed securities (continued)

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Guaranteed Prime Sub-prime Total Guaranteed Prime Sub-prime Total
Rest of the World £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Net exposure
Held-for-trading 37 4 - 41 46 24 - 70
Available-for-sale - 156 263 419 - 164 308 472
Loans and receivables - 28 8 36 - 28 6 34
37 188 271 496 46 216 314 576
Carrying values
Held-for-trading 37 11 41 89 46 54 67 167
Available-for-sale - 157 262 419 - 164 308 472
Loans and receivables - 28 8 36 - 28 6 34
37 196 311 544 46 246 381 673
Of which originated in:
2004 and earlier - 25 58 83 - 37 65 102
2005 - 1 33 34 - 30 34 64
2006 37 3 175 215 46 2 187 235
2007 and later - 167 45 212 177 95 272
37 196 311 544 46 246 381 673

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Residential mortgage-backed securities (continued)

US - the Group's largest concentration of RMBS assets is the portfolio of US agency asset-backed securities comprising mainly current year vintage positions amounting to £30.8 billion at 30 June 2009 (2008: £33.5 billion). Due to the US government backing, explicit or implicit, in these securities, the counterparty credit risk exposure is low. £16.2 billion (2008: £18.6 billion) is held in actively traded portfolios, actively transacted, and possesses a high degree of liquidity. Trading in this portfolio has driven a shift to more recent vintages. However, the majority of the decrease in exposure during the period has been due to the strengthening of sterling against the US dollar. Available-for-sale exposures of £14.6 billion (£14.9 billion) relate to liquidity portfolios held by US Retail & Commercial.

Europe - these are liquidity portfolios comprising £6.7 billion (2008 - £7.6 billion) available-for-sale portfolio of European RMBS, referencing primarily Dutch and Spanish government-backed loans and £8.0 billion (2008 - £10.0 billion) of European RMBS comprised covered mortgage bonds. The decrease in both of these portfolios primarily reflects exchange rate movements. These exposures are part of the liquidity portfolios held by Group Treasury.

UK and the rest of the world - the Group has other portfolios of RMBS from secondary trading activities, warehoused positions previously acquired with the intention of further securitisation and a portfolio of assets from the unwinding of a securities arbitrage conduit. This conduit was established to benefit from the margin between the assets purchased and the notes issued.

Material disposals of prime RMBS occurred in the period, in particular £1.5 billion of 2005 vintage US securities, £0.5 billion of Spanish and Portuguese mortgages and £0.6 billion of positions which have synthetic hedges against them. Other declines were due to redemptions and foreign exchange movements. Sub-prime balances reduced across ratings, geographies and vintages, due to pay downs, maturities and sales during the period, while non-conforming exposures fell mainly due to UK available-for-sale redemptions.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities

Commercial mortgage-backed securities ('CMBS') are securities that are secured by loans mortgaged on commercial land and buildings. The securities are structured in the same way as an RMBS but typically the underlying assets referenced will be of greater individual value. The performance of the securities is dependent on the sector of the occupier of the commercial property and the geographical region.

The Group accumulated CMBS for the purpose of re-securitisation and secondary trading. The largest holding of CMBS arose as a result of the Group's purchase of senior tranches in mezzanine and high grade CMBS structures from third parties. These securities are predominantly hedged with monoline insurers. As a result, the Group's risk is limited to the counterparty credit risk exposure on the hedge provider.

The following table shows the composition of the Group's holdings of CMBS portfolios.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
US UK Europe RoW Total US UK Europe RoW Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
US federal agency 1,418 n/a n/a n/a 1,418 649 n/a n/a n/a 649
Office 641 770 242 - 1,653 428 915 402 - 1,745
Retail 460 45 66 39 610 295 43 2 49 389
Mixed use 62 27 473 3 565 20 99 975 45 1,139
Multi-family 279 131 3 - 413 159 143 - - 302
Hotel 119 26 - - 145 40 35 - - 75
Healthcare 1 30 75 - 106 24 13 81 - 118
Leisure - 77 - - 77 - 76 - - 76
Industry 63 - 8 - 71 40 - 49 - 89
Other 159 92 150 103 504 490 71 137 47 745
3,202 1,198 1,017 145 5,562 2,145 1,395 1,646 141 5,327

Underlying CMBS carrying values declined due to foreign exchange movements driven by the strengthening of sterling against the US dollar and the euro, as well as modest pay downs, sales and write-downs. This was partially offset by revised asset classifications, including US federal agency issued securities.

There have been no material acquisitions of CMBS by the Group in the period. Where exposures within CMBS types have increased, this is due to a change of sector exposure from permitted substitutions, particularly within US structures, and revised sector classifications.

Asset-backed collateralised debt and loan obligations

Collateralised debt obligations ('CDOs') are securities whose performance is dependant on a portfolio of underlying cash and synthetic exposures to referenced assets generally ABS, but may also include other classes of assets. The collateralised loan obligations ('CLOs') have referenced portfolios which primarily consist of leveraged loans.

The Group's ABS CDO and CLO net exposures comprised:

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
£m £m
Super senior CDOs 548 1,182
Other CDOs 909 1,658
CLOs 2,146 3,443
3,603 6,283

The Group's CDO exposures comprise:

  • Super senior CDO risk structured by the Group from 2003 to 2007 that the Group was unable to sell to third parties due to prevailing illiquid markets, with net exposures of £0.5 billion (2008: £1.2 billion).
  • Other CDO net exposures of £0.9 billion (2008:£1.7 billion) purchased from third parties, some of which are fully hedged through CDS with other banks or monoline insurers.

Given the significance of net losses incurred on super senior CDOs in recent years, additional disclosures on these exposures are discussed below.

Super senior CDOs

Super senior CDOs represent the most senior positions in a CDO. Instruments subordinate to the super senior CDO (usually a combination of equity, mezzanine and senior notes) absorb losses before the super senior note is affected. Losses will only be suffered by the super senior note holders once defaults on the underlying reference assets exceed a specified threshold. This threshold is usually referred to in terms of a percentage of defaults in the asset pool; known as the 'attachment point'. These super senior instruments carry an AAA rating at origination or are senior to other AAA rated notes in the same structure. The level of defaults occurring on recent vintage sub-prime mortgages and other asset classes has been higher than originally expected. As a result the protection afforded by the subordinate securities has been significantly eroded and consequently the super senior notes have a higher probability of suffering losses than at origination. The majority of the underlying collateral is now rated below investment grade.

Depending on the quality of the underlying reference assets on issue, the super senior tranches will be either classified as high grade or mezzanine. The majority of the Group's exposure relates to high grade super senior tranches of ABS CDOs. The table below summarises the carrying amounts and net exposures after hedge protection of the Group's super senior CDOs as at 30 June 2009. The collateral rating is determined with reference to S&P ratings where available. Where S&P ratings are not available the lower of Moody's and Fitch ratings have been used.

30 June 2009(1) 31 December 2008(2)
High grade
£m
Mezzanine
£m
Total
£m
High grade
£m
Mezzanine
£m
Total
£m
Gross exposure
Hedges and protection
6,314
2,586
(3,040)
(614)
8,900
(3,654)
7,104
(3,423)
2,884
(691)
9,988
(4,114)
Write-downs on net open 3,274 1,972 5,246 3,681 2,193 5,874
positions and amortisations (2,756) (1,942) (4,698) (2,592) (2,100) (4,692)
Net exposure after hedges and
write-downs
518 30 548 1,089 93 1,182
Average price 17% 3% 16% 29% 6% 23%

Notes:

  • (1) Net exposure represents the carrying value after taking account of hedge protection purchased from monolines and other counterparties but excludes the effect of counterparty credit valuation adjustment; includes portfolios carried at fair value only.
  • (2) Exposures at 31 December 2008 have been restated to reflect transactions that have been liquidated and now represent long positions in asset-backed securities.

130

The change in net exposure during the year is analysed in the table below.

High grade
£m
Mezzanine
£m
Total
£m
Net exposure at 1 January 2009 1,089 93 1,182
Write downs (417) (50) (467)
Foreign exchange and other movements (154) (13) (167)
Net exposure at 30 June 2009 518 30 548

During 2009 the super senior exposures, which are predominantly US positions, have fallen by approximately 50%. This reflects the further price declines in the underlying collateral as well as the foreign exchange effect as sterling has strengthened against the US dollar in the first half of 2009.

Other CDOs

The net exposure of the Group's other senior CDO exposures was £0.9 billion after hedge protection with financial institutions (more than 80%) or monolines. The unhedged exposures comprise smaller positions with various types of underlying collateral, rating and vintage characteristics. The positions hedged with derivative protection from financial institutions include a number of positions referencing early vintages of RMBS and other ABS assets. The Group therefore has no net exposure to these CDOs before credit valuation adjustment. Due to the early vintage, the assets underlying these structures have not deteriorated to the same degree as the more recently issued securities. During 2009 the other CDO exposures, which are predominantly US positions, have fallen significantly. This reflects further price declines in the underlying collateral as well as the strengthening of sterling against the US dollar in the first half of 2009. The price declines relate to exposures with more recent vintages.

CLOs

The Group's CLO exposures arise from its trading activities and consist of retained interests and from notes purchased from third-party structures. The Group holds super senior securities in two CLO structures which were originated by the Group in 2005 and 2007. The underlying collateral of these structures predominantly references leveraged loans.

In the first half of 2009, there were further write downs in line with the decline in the market, some deal amortisations and disposal of positions where market opportunities occurred.

Other asset backed securities

Other asset backed securities are securities issued by securitisation vehicles, similar to those in RMBS and CMBS structures, which reference cash flow generating assets other than mortgages. The wide variety of referenced underlying assets results in diverse asset performance levels.

The Group has accumulated these assets from a range of trading and funding activities. The carrying value of the Group's other asset-backed securities by underlying asset type and geographical region are shown below.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
US UK Europe RoW Total US UK Europe RoW Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Covered bonds - - 2,190 - 2,190 - - 3,301 - 3,301
Consumer 245 182 1,071 499 1,997 956 408 118 729 2,211
Aircraft leases 380 13 8 65 466 459 23 - 273 755
Other leases 16 611 286 - 913 1 492 455 - 948
Student loans 694 - - - 694 953 - - - 953
Trade receivables 623 7 - - 630 15 9 - - 24
Utilities and energy 241 2 283 177 703 47 19 48 143 257
Auto and equipment 90 8 337 3 438 160 30 466 29 685
Film/entertainment - - - - - 86 - - - 86
Other 677 429 519 146 1,771 904 641 710 263 2,518
2,966 1,252 4,694 890 9,802 3,581 1,622 5,098 1,437 11,738

The covered bonds comprise asset-backed securities issued by Spanish financial institutions. These securities benefit from credit enhancement provided by the issuing institutions. The reduction in carrying value of the Group's Other ABS exposures reflects asset disposals, and the strengthening of sterling against the US dollar and the euro. There have been no material acquisitions of other ABS by the Group in the period. Where exposures within specific asset types have increased, this is due to a combination of permitted substitutions within structures and revised sector classifications, particularly in relation to other consumer and trade receivable positions.

Counterparty valuation adjustments

Credit valuation adjustments

Counterparty valuation adjustments ('CVAs') represent an estimate of the adjustment to fair value that a market participant would make to incorporate the credit risk inherent in counterparty derivative exposures. During 2009, as credit spreads of monoline insurers have generally widened, there has been an increase in the total CVA as set out in the table below.

30 June 31 December
2009 2008
£m £m
Monoline insurers 6,845 5,988
CDPCs 821 1,311
Other counterparties 1,821 1,738
Total CVA adjustments 9,487 9,037

The Group has purchased protection from monoline insurers ("monolines") mainly against specific ABS, CDOs and CLOs. Monolines are entities which specialise in providing credit protection against the notional and interest cash flows due to the holders of debt instruments in the event of default by the debt security counterparty. This protection is typically held in the form of derivatives such as credit default swaps ('CDS') referencing the underlying exposures held by the Group.

The Group has also purchased credit protection, both tranched and single name credit derivatives, from credit derivative product companies ('CDPC'). CDPCs are similar to monolines however they are not regulated as insurers. The Group's exposure to CDPCs is predominantly due to tranched credit derivatives ("tranches"). A tranche references a portfolio of assets and provides protection against total portfolio default losses exceeding a certain percentage of the portfolio notional (the attachment point) up to another percentage (the detachment point). The Group has predominantly traded senior tranches with CDPCs, the average attachment and detachment points are 15% and 50% respectively, and the majority of the loans and bonds in the reference portfolios are investment grade.

The CVA for monolines is calculated on a trade-by-trade basis, and is derived using market observable monoline credit spreads. The majority of the monoline CVA relates to credit derivatives hedging exposures to ABS. The CDPC CVA is calculated using a similar approach. However, in the absence of market observable credit spreads, the cost of hedging the counterparty risk is estimated by analysing the underlying trades and the cost of hedging expected default losses in excess of the capital available in each vehicle.

The CVA for all other counterparties is calculated with reference to observable credit spreads. The calculation is performed on a portfolio basis reflecting an estimate of the amount a third party would charge to assume the risk.

The widening of monoline credit spreads during the year contributed to a significant increase in the total size of CVA adjustments recorded.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Monoline insurers

The Group's monoline exposures are predominantly denominated in US dollars and the weakening of the US dollar against sterling has significantly reduced the gross exposure to these counterparties. This has been partially offset by an increase in the fair value of the CDS protection from monolines as the market price of the securities protected continued to decline.

The perceived credit quality of the monolines has also continued to deteriorate as reflected by ratings downgrades, wider credit spreads and lower recovery rate assumptions seen in the market. This has resulted in increased levels of CVA being recorded against the Group's monoline exposure.

Summary of the Group's exposure to monoline counterparties:

30 June 31 December
2009 2008
£m £m
Gross exposure to monolines 10,950 11,581
Hedges with financial institutions (524) (789)
Credit valuation adjustment (6,845) (5,988)
Net exposure to monolines 3,581 4,804

The net income statement effect arising from the change in level of monoline CVA and related trades is shown below. The US dollar weakening against sterling is the primary cause of the loss arising on foreign exchange, hedges and other movements.

£m
Credit valuation adjustment at 1 January 2009 (5,988)
Credit valuation adjustment at 30 June 2009 (6,845)
Increase in credit valuation adjustment (857)
Foreign exchange and other movements (937)
Net effect relating to reclassified debt securities (27)
(1,821)

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Monoline insurers (continued)

The asset categories protected by CDSs written by monolines and the related CVA by monoline credit rating at the balance sheet date are analysed in the table below.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Notional Notional
amount: Fair value: Credit amount: Fair value: Credit
protected Protected Gross valuation protected protected Gross valuation
assets assets exposure adjustment assets assets exposure adjustment
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
AAA/AA rated:
CDO of RMBS - - - - - - - -
RMBS 3 2 1 - 3 2 1 -
CMBS 503 357 146 61 613 496 117 51
CLOs 5,610 4,219 1,391 599 6,506 4,882 1,624 718
Other ABS 1,308 849 459 206 1,548 990 558 251
Other 265 174 91 44 267 167 100 47
7,689 5,601 2,088 910 8,937 6,537 2,400 1,067
A/BBB rated:
CDO of RMBS - - - - 5,385 1,363 4,022 1,938
RMBS - - - - 90 63 27 10
CMBS - - - - 4,236 1,892 2,344 1,378
CLOs - - - - 6,009 4,523 1,486 778
Other ABS - - - - 910 433 477 243
Other - - - - 265 122 143 79
- - - - 16,895 8,396 8,499 4,426
Sub-investment grade:
CDO of RMBS 4,972 687 4,285 2,745 394 32 362 263
RMBS 76 64 12 2 - - - -
CMBS 3,757 1,212 2,545 1,886 - - - -
CLOs 4,953 3,795 1,158 797 350 268 82 60
Other ABS 1,747 1,129 618 353 1,208 1,037 171 123
Other 488 244 244 152 237 169 68 49
15,993 7,131 8,862 5,935 2,189 1,506 683 495
Total:
CDO of RMBS 4,972 687 4,285 2,745 5,779 1,395 4,384 2,201
RMBS 79 66 13 2 93 65 28 10
CMBS 4,260 1,569 2,691 1,947 4,849 2,388 2,461 1,429
CLOs 10,563 8,014 2,549 1,396 12,865 9,673 3,192 1,557
Other ABS 3,055 1,978 1,077 559 3,666 2,460 1,206 616
Other 753 418 335 196 769 458 311 176
23,682 12,732 10,950 6,845 28,020 16,439 11,581 5,988

The Group also has indirect exposure to monolines through wrapped securities and other assets with credit enhancement monolines. These securities are traded with the benefit of this credit enhancement. Any deterioration in the credit rating of the monoline is reflected in the fair value of these assets.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Credit derivative product companies

The Group's exposure to CDPCs has reduced considerably due to a combination of tighter credit spreads and a decrease in the relative value of senior tranches compared to the underlying reference portfolios. The trades with CDPCs are predominantly denominated in US and Canadian dollars and therefore the strengthening of sterling against these currencies has further reduced the exposure.

The overall level of CVA has decreased in line with the reduction in the exposure, however, on a relative basis the CVA has increased. This reflects the perceived deterioration of the credit quality of the CDPCs as reflected by ratings downgrades.

Summary of the Group's exposure to CDPC:

30 June 31 December
2009 2008
£m £m
Gross exposure to CDPCs 2,303 4,776
Credit valuation adjustment (821) (1,311)
Net exposure to CDPCs 1,482 3,465

The net income statement effect arising from the change in level of CVA and related trades is shown in the table below. The Group has additional market risk hedges in place which effectively cap the exposure to CDPCs where the Group has significant risk. As the exposure to these CDPCs has reduced, losses have been incurred on the additional hedges. These losses, together with losses arising on trades hedging CVA, are the primary cause of the loss arising on hedges, foreign exchange and other movements.

£m
Credit valuation adjustment at 1 January 2009 (1,311)
Credit valuation adjustment at 30 June 2009 (821)
Decrease in credit valuation adjustment 490
Hedges, foreign exchange and other movements (1,059)
(569)

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Credit derivative product companies (continued)

Further analysis of the Group's exposure to CDPCs by CDPC credit rating is shown below. Some of the CDPCs with the AAA/AA and A/BBB rating at 31 December 2008 were subsequently downgraded or had ratings withdrawn.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Notional Fair value: Notional Fair value:
amount: protected Credit amount: protected Credit
protected reference Gross valuation protected reference Gross valuation
assets assets exposure adjustment assets assets exposure adjustment
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
AAA/AA rated 1,636 1,580 56 18 19,092 15,466 3,626 908
A/BBB rated 15,965 14,484 1,481 470 6,147 4,997 1,150 403
Sub-investment grade 1,399 1,097 302 151 - - - -
Rating withdrawn 3,914 3,450 464 182 - - - -
22,914 20,611 2,303 821 25,239 20,463 4,776 1,311

Leveraged finance

Leveraged finance is employed to facilitate corporate finance transactions, such as acquisitions or buy-outs. A bank acting as a lead manager will typically underwrite a loan, alone or with others, and then syndicate the loan to other participants ('syndicate portfolio'). The Group has typically also held a portion of these loans as part of its long term portfolio once primary syndication is completed ('hold portfolio').

Since the beginning of the credit market dislocation in the second half of 2007, investor appetite for leveraged loans and similar risky assets has fallen dramatically, with secondary prices falling due to selling pressure and margins increasing, and reduced activity in the primary market. There were a small number of modest deals with reduced leverage executed in the first half of 2008 priced at less than mid-2007 levels. Concerted efforts to sell positions during the first half of 2008 were only partially successful due to the rapid deterioration in market conditions since origination of the loans. Most of the leveraged finance loans held as part of syndicated lending activity were reclassified from the held-for-trading to loans and receivables in the second half of 2008.

During the first half of 2009, there have been a small number of sales and further impairments have been recorded. The strengthening of sterling against other major currencies also had a substantial impact on this book, which has significant US dollar and euro positions.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Americas UK Europe RoW Total Americas UK Europe RoW Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Gross exposure:
TMT (1) 1,625 1,652 1,477 506 5,260 2,507 1,484 2,001 535 6,527
Industrial 1,616 1,553 1,641 175 4,985 1,686 1,612 1,924 188 5,410
Retail 69 1,134 1,327 79 2,609 268 1,285 1,440 89 3,082
Other 350 1,566 1,228 131 3,275 487 1,391 1,282 126 3,286
3,660 5,905 5,673 891 16,129 4,948 5,772 6,647 938 18,305
Net exposure:
TMT (1) 1,283 1,517 1,367 506 4,673 2,247 1,385 1,982 534 6,148
Industrial 578 1,126 1,416 172 3,292 607 1,157 1,758 186 3,708
Retail 69 537 1,257 79 1,942 223 978 1,424 89 2,714
Other 350 1,383 1,204 131 3,068 484 1,307 1,281 127 3,199
2,280 4,563 5,244 888 12,975 3,561 4,827 6,445 936 15,769
Of which:
Drawn 1,825 3,859 4,193 813 10,690 2,511 4,125 5,159 824 12,619
Undrawn 455 704 1,051 75 2,285 1,050 702 1,286 112 3,150
2,280 4,563 5,244 888 12,975 3,561 4,827 6,445 936 15,769
Of which:
Syndicate portfolio (2) 1,428 1,398 1,125 88 4,039 2,138 2,121 1,663 101 6,023
Hold portfolio 852 3,165 4,119 800 8,936 1,423 2,707 4,783 835 9,746
2,280 4,563 5,244 888 12,975 3,561 4,827 6,445 936 15,769

The table below shows the Group's leveraged finance exposures by industry and geography.

Notes:

(1) Telecommunications, media and technology

(2) includes held-for-trading exposures of £38 million (2008 - £102 million)

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Leveraged finance (continued)

The table below analyses the movement in the amounts reported above.

Drawn Undrawn Total
£m £m £m
Balance at 1 January 2009 12,619 3,150 15,769
Transfers in (from credit trading business) 506 41 547
Sales (327) (147) (474)
Repayments and facility reductions (549) (314) (863)
Funded deals 97 (97) -
Lapsed/collapsed deals (28) (19) (47)
Changes in fair value (34) (6) (40)
Accretion of interest 71 n/a 71
Impairment provisions (679) n/a (679)
Exchange and other movements (986) (323) (1,309)
Balance at 30 June 2009 10,690 2,285 12,975

SPEs and conduits

SPEs

For background on the Group's involvement with securitisations and special purpose entities ('SPEs'), refer to Business Review – SPEs and conduits in the Annual Report and Accounts 2008.

The table below sets out the asset categories together with the carrying amount of the assets and associated liabilities for those securitisations and other asset transfers, other than conduits (discussed below), where the assets continue to be recorded on the Group's balance sheet.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Assets Liabilities Assets Liabilities
£m £m £m £m
Residential mortgages 62,799 17,812 49,184 20,075
Credit card receivables 2,975 1,567 3,004 3,197
Other loans 10,472 1,031 1,679 1,071
Finance lease receivables 950 750 1,077 857

The increase in residential mortgage and other loan assets above primarily relate to balances that have been securitised to facilitate access to central bank special liquidity schemes. As all the notes issued by the SPEs are purchased by Group companies, securitised assets are significantly greater than secured liabilities.

Conduits

The Group sponsors and administers a number of asset-backed commercial paper ('ABCP') conduits. A conduit is an SPE that issues commercial paper and uses the proceeds to purchase or fund a pool of assets. The commercial paper is secured on the assets and is redeemed either by further commercial paper issuance, repayment of assets or funding from liquidity facilities. Commercial paper is short-dated, typically up to three months.

The Group's conduits can be divided into multi-seller conduits and own-asset conduits. The Group consolidates both types of conduit where the substance of the relationship between the Group and the conduit vehicle is such that the vehicle is controlled by the Group. The Group also extends liquidity commitments to multi-seller conduits sponsored by other banks, but typically does not consolidate these entities.

Funding and liquidity

The Group's multi-seller conduits have continued to fund the vast majority of their assets solely through ABCP issuance. There have been no significant systemic failures within the financial markets similar to that experienced in the second half of 2008 following Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing in September 2008. The improvement in market conditions has allowed these conduits to move towards more normal ABCP funding and reduced the need for backstop funding from the Group.

The Group's own-asset conduit programmes have been established to diversify the Group's funding. The conduits allow the Group to access central government funding schemes and the external ABCP market.

The average maturity of ABCP issued by the Group's conduits as at 30 June 2009 was 55.2 days compared with 72.1 days at 31 December 2008 due to a combination of restructured deals having shorter terms than normal rolling periods and effect of issuers seeking longer terms at end of any year due to general illiquidity at the end of the year/early January.

The total assets held by the Group's sponsored conduits are £35.0 billion (31 December 2008 - £49.9 billion). Since the related backstop liquidity facilities are sanctioned on the basis of total conduit purchase commitments, the liquidity facility commitments exceed the level of assets held, with the difference representing undrawn commitments.

Multi-seller conduits

The Group sponsors six multi-seller conduits which finance assets from Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. Assets purchased or financed by the multi-seller conduits include auto loans, residential mortgages, credit card receivables, consumer loans and trade receivables. These conduits were established to provide customers of the Group access to diversified and flexible funding sources.

The third-party assets financed by the conduits receive credit enhancement from the originators of the assets. This credit enhancement, which is specific to each transaction, can take the form of over-collateralisation, excess spread or subordinated loan, and typically ensures the asset acquired by the conduit has a rating equivalent to at least a single-A credit. In addition, in line with general market practice, the Group provides a small second-loss layer of programme-wide protection to the multi-seller conduits. Given the nature and investment grade equivalent quality of the first loss enhancement provided by the originators of the assets, the Group has only a minimal risk of loss on its programme wide exposure. The issued ABCP is rated A-1 / P-1 by Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

The Group provides liquidity back-up facilities to the conduits it sponsors. The conduits are able to draw funding under these facilities in the event of a disruption in the ABCP market, or when certain trigger events prevent the issue of ABCP. The maturity of commercial paper issued by the Group's conduits is managed to mitigate the short-term contingent liquidity risk of providing back-up facilities. Group limits sanctioned for such liquidity facilities as at 30 June 2009 totalled approximately £28.2 billion (31 December 2008 - £42.9 billion). For a very small number of transactions within one multi-seller conduit the liquidity facilities have been provided by third-party banks, this typically occurs on transactions where the third-party bank does not use, or have, its own conduit vehicles.

The multi-seller conduits form the majority of the Group's conduit business (64.2% (31 December 2008 - 69.4%).

The Group's maximum exposure to loss on its multi-seller conduits is £28.3 billion (31 December 2008 - £43.2 billion), being the total amount of the Group's liquidity commitments plus the extent of programme-wide credit enhancements of conduit assets for which liquidity facilities were provided by third parties.

Own-asset conduits

The Group also holds three own-asset conduits which have assets that have previously been funded by the Group. These vehicles represent 28% (31 December 2008 - 25%) of the Group's conduit business (as a percentage of the total liquidity and credit enhancements committed by the Group), with £11.8 billion of ABCP outstanding at 30 June 2009 (31 December 2008 - £14.8 billion). The Group's maximum exposure to loss on its own-asset conduits is £12.9 billion (31 December 2008 - £15.9 billion), being the total drawn and undrawn amount of the Group's liquidity commitments to these conduits.

Securitisation arbitrage conduits

The Group no longer sponsors any securitisation arbitrage conduits.

Market turmoil exposures (continued).

Conduits (continued)

The Group's exposure from conduits which are consolidated by the Group including those to which the Group is economically exposed on a shared basis with other consortium members and its involvement with third-party conduits, are set out below.

30 June 2009 31 December 2008
Sponsored Third Sponsored Third
conduits party Total conduits party Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m
Total assets held by the conduits 35,007 49,857
Commercial paper issued 33,452 48,684
Liquidity and credit enhancements:
Deal specific liquidity:
- drawn 1,440 2,361 3,801 1,172 3,078 4,250
- undrawn 39,744 1,161 40,905 57,929 198 58,127
Programme-wide liquidity:
- drawn - 99 99 - 102 102
- undrawn - - - - 504 504
PWCE (1) 1,663 - 1,663 2,391 - 2,391
42,847 3,621 46,468 61,492 3,882 65,374
Maximum exposure to loss (2) 41,184 3,621 44,805 59,101 3,882 62,983

Notes:

(1) Programme-wide credit enhancement

(2) Maximum exposure to loss is determined as the Group's total liquidity commitments to the conduits and additionally programme-wide credit support which would absorb first loss on transactions where liquidity support is provided by a third party.

The Group's exposures from the conduit shared with the other consortium members is set out below:

30 June
2009
£m
31 December
2008
£m
Total assets held by the conduits 11,189 13,286
Commercial paper issued 11,189 13,028
Liquidity and credit enhancements:
Deal specific liquidity:
- drawn
- undrawn
-
11,311
258
13,566
11,311 13,824
Maximum exposure to loss 11,311 13,824

During the period both multi-seller and own asset conduit assets have been reduced in line with the wider Group balance sheet management.

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Conduits (continued)

Collateral analysis, geographic, profile, credit ratings and weighted average lives of the assets in the assets relating to the Group's consolidated conduits and related undrawn commitments are set out in the tables below.

Funded assets Liquidity for Total
exposure
Loans Securities Total Undrawn third parties
£m £m £m £m £m £m
30 June 2009
Auto loans 5,785 280 6,065 1,838 - 7,903
Corporate loans 213 9,193 9,406 186 - 9,592
Credit card receivables 3,375 - 3,375 1,601 - 4,976
Trade receivables 1,437 - 1,437 790 - 2,227
Student loans 1,260 - 1,260 265 (132) 1,393
Consumer loans 1,742 - 1,742 520 - 2,262
Mortgages:
- Prime 3,971 1,900 5,871 230 - 6,101
- Non-conforming 1,821 - 1,821 468 - 2,289
- Sub-prime - - - - - -
- Commercial 656 499 1,155 87 (22) 1,220
- Buy-to-let - - - - - -
CDOs - - - - - -
Other 1,349 1,526 2,875 292 - 3,167
21,609 13,398 35,007 6,277 (154) 41,130
31 December 2008
Auto loans 9,924 383 10,307 1,871 - 12,178
Corporate loans 430 11,042 11,472 534 - 12,006
Credit card receivables 5,844 - 5,844 922 - 6,766
Trade receivables 2,745 - 2,745 1,432 (71) 4,106
Student loans 2,555 - 2,555 478 (132) 2,901
Consumer loans 2,371 - 2,371 409 - 2,780
Mortgages
- Prime 4,416 2,250 6,666 1,188 - 7,854
- Non-conforming 2,181 - 2,181 727 - 2,908
- Sub-prime - - - - - -
- Commercial 1,228 507 1,735 66 (23) 1,778
- Buy-to-let - - - - - -
CDOs - - - - - -
Other 1,851 2,130 3,981 1,615 - 5,596
33,545 16,312 49,857 9,242 (226) 58,873

Market turmoil exposures (continued)

Conduits (continued)

CP funded assets
Geographic distribution Weighted
Credit ratings (S&P equivalent)
average Below
UK Europe US RoW Total life AAA AA A BBB BBB
£m £m £m £m £m Years £m £m £m £m £m
30 June 2009
Auto loans 595 1,075 3,846 549 6,065 1.9 3,085 2,274 706 - -
Corporate loans 1,266 3,640 2,738 1,762 9,406 1.7 9,078 223 105 - -
Credit card receivables 390 - 2,796 189 3,375 1.0 2,794 212 369 - -
Trade receivables - 465 637 335 1,437 1.1 349 561 496 31 -
Student loans 116 - 1,144 - 1,260 1.2 1,144 116 - - -
Consumer loans 657 999 86 - 1,742 2.4 71 132 1,539 - -
Mortgages
Prime - 1,896 - 3,975 5,871 2.8 2,364 3,448 20 - 39
Non-conforming 808 1,013 - - 1,821 4.5 316 460 1,045 - -
Sub-prime - - - - - - - - - - -
Commercial 685 373 57 40 1,155 15.1 - 31 745 373 6
Buy-to-let - - - - - - - - - - -
CDOs - - - - - - - - - - -
Other 243 900 383 1,349 2,875 2.4 90 432 2,210 143 -
4,760 10,361 11,687 8,199 35,007 2.4 19,291 7,889 7,235 547 45
31 December 2008
Auto loans 801 1,706 7,402 398 10,307 1.7 6,075 883 3,349 - -
Corporate Loans 1,714 4,347 3,289 2,122 11,472 4.9 10,767 132 573 - -
Credit card receivables 633 - 4,999 212 5,844 0.7 3,465 62 2,171 146 -
Trade receivables 68 922 1,371 384 2,745 0.7 120 1,025 1,600 - -
Student loans 144 - 2,411 - 2,555 2.6 2,296 144 115 - -
Consumer loans 708 1,195 468 - 2,371 1.7 387 993 923 68 -
Mortgages
Prime - 2,244 - 4,422 6,666 2.8 2,675 3,876 115 - -
Non-conforming 960 1,221 - - 2,181 4.6 351 368 475 987 -
Sub-prime - - - - - - - - - - -
Commercial 713 453 74 495 1,735 11.0 274 518 474 469 -
Buy-to-let - - - - - - - - - - -
CDOs - - - - - - - - - - -
Other 166 1,198 684 1,933 3,981 1.2 3 958 2,786 234 -
5,907 13,286 20,698 9,966 49,857 3.0 26,413 8,959 12,581 1,904 -

Structured investment vehicles

The Group does not sponsor any structured investment vehicles.

Investment funds set up and managed by the Group

The Group has established and manages a number of money market funds for its customers. When a new money market fund is launched, the Group typically provides a limited amount of seed capital to the funds. The Group has investments in these funds of £723.2 million at 30 June 2009 (31 December 2008: £107.0 million). These funds are not consolidated by the Group.

Money market funds

The Group's money market funds held assets of £13.2 billion at 30 June 2009 (31 December 2008 - £13.9 billion). The sub-categories of money market funds are:

  • £9.1 billion (31 December 2008 £8.3 billion) in money market funds managed by the Group denominated in sterling, US dollars and euro. The funds invest in short-dated, highly rated money market securities with the objective of ensuring stability of capital and net asset value per share, appropriate levels of liquid assets, together with an income which is comparable to the short dated money market interest rate in the relevant currency.
  • £0.7 billion (31 December 2008 £0.8 billion) in money market 'Plus' funds managed by the Group denominated in sterling, US dollars and euro. The funds invest in longer-dated, highly rated securities with the objective of providing enhanced returns over the average return on comparable cash deposits.
  • £3.4 billion (31 December 2008 £4.8 billion) in third party multi-manager money market funds denominated in sterling, US dollars and euro. The funds invest in short dated, highly rated securities with the objective of maximising current income consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity.

Non-money market funds

The Group has also established a number of non-money market funds to enable investors to invest in a range of assets including bonds, equities, hedge funds, private equity and real estate. As the Group does not have significant holdings in these funds, they are not consolidated by the Group.

The Group non-money market funds had total assets of £14.2 billion at 30 June 2009 (31 December 2008 - £17.7 billion). The sub-categories of non-money market funds are:

  • £1.1 billion (31 December 2008 £1.1 billion) in committed capital to generate returns from equity and equitylike investments in private companies.
  • £12.8 billion (31 December 2008 £16.5 billion) in third party, multi-manager funds. These funds offer multimanager and fund of funds' products across bond, equity, hedge fund, private equity and real estate asset classes.
  • £0.3 billion (31 December 2008 £0.1 billion) in various derivative instruments with the objective of providing returns linked to the performance of underlying equity indices.

The investors in both money market and non money market funds have recourse to the assets of the funds only. At 30 June 2009 the Group had exposure to one fund amounting to £145 million (31 December 2008 - £144 million).

Talk to a Data Expert

Have a question? We'll get back to you promptly.