20
Mar
RBS boss against 100 per cent mortgages
Mortgages worth 100 per cent of the value of a property are "bad
banking", the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
Gordon Pell has said.
Addressing MPs at Westminster, Mr Pell commented that such deals
are "immoral" and amount to giving borrowers a "loaded gun".
The RBS boss was speaking in the wake of comments by the Financial
Services Authority this week that announced it would look at
possible mortgage lending restrictions.
Such measures could include abolishing 100 per cent mortgages,
something prime minister Gordon Brown has said he is keen to see
permanently disappear from the market.
A report by the National Audit Office has criticised the Treasury
for allowing Northern Rock to continue offering 125 per cent
mortgages for several months after it was rescued using public
funds.
Such deals were still being made available until early 2008.
