The sector has been battered by misfortunes of its own making, but the challenger banks’ lack of success is a source of comfort for established players
When HSBC held its annual meeting at this time last year, the bank’s shares were trading at around 611p. When outgoing chairman Douglas Flint fronted up to shareholders for this year’s event last week, they were around 472p – 23% lower. If the meeting had been held a fortnight earlier, the picture would have been an even more gloomy 416p. At these sorts of share-price levels, the market is valuing the bank at almost less than half the value of its assets.
HSBC is not alone in getting such an assessment from the market. The UK banking sector is lagging behind the wider stock market and as all the major players publish their results in the coming fortnight, they will hope to elicit a better reception.