British banks face more severe Covid fallout than their European peers

File photo dated 18/07/18 of a Barclays Bank in London. 

Britain’s banks took a gloomier view than almost all their European peers in their second-quarter earnings, as coronavirus fears, Brexit and low-interest rates caused them to bake tougher “worst-case” scenarios into their risk models.

Investors had expected a torrid set of half-year results, but Barclays, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, NatWest Group, and HSBC  fell short of these low expectations.