Britain’s big five banks rake in €50bn

BRITAIN’S big five banks unveiled combined profits of £33.4 billion (€49.68bn) last year — a figure which has fuelled outrage among consumer groups.

The profits are equivalent to more than £1,000 (€1,457) a second and are higher than the annual GDP of countries including Kuwait, Bangladesh, Morocco and Luxembourg.

HSBC, the last of the big five to report, notched the biggest haul by a British-based bank when revealing annual profits of £11.91bn yesterday.