Several UK banks, including Abbey National and Barclays, have suffered losses of tens of millions of pounds due to the collapse of US energy giant Enron.
Abbey, the UK's second-biggest mortgage lender and owner of Scottish Mutual and Scottish Provident, admitted this week that it has been forced to write off £95m of the £115m it has lent Enron while Barclays' exposure is estimated to be at least £50m.
Royal Bank of Scotland is understood to have lost around £50m while National Australia Bank – owner of UK banks Clydesdale and Yorkshire – says its exposure is around £140m ($200m). The banks claim to be unconcerned by the impact of Enron's demise, saying their exposure is insignificant compared with other companies.
An Abbey spokesman says: “We only have a very small percentage of Enron's total exposure, probably less than 1 per cent. It will be interesting to see which banks have lost what when the final tally comes in.”
A Barclays spokeswoman says: “We have put out a trading statement this week and it does not mention Enron because we consider the loss to be fairly insignificant.”
View more on these topicsNews