Abbey National shares’ record fall

London: Shares of Abbey National Plc, Britain’s No. 2 mortgage lender, had a record decline after the bank was forced to set aside capital at its life insurer, triggering a second-half loss that was 10 times wider than analysts predicted.

The net loss was £553 million pounds, compared with €1.44 billion a year before, according to Bloomberg calculations on annual figures released by the London-based bank.

Abbey took a charge of £373 million on its life units.