You've heard of toxic assets; now say hallo to toxic liabilities. These are the government-sponsored shares that some British banks are turning to in order to meet the new, more stringent, capital requirements of the Financial Services Authority (fsa), a financial watchdog. Over the next month or two, the Royal Bank of Scotland (rbs), Lloyds tsb and hbos, three of the country's five biggest banks, plan to issue new ordinary shares, underwritten by the government, and to sell the government preference shares that come with strings attached: no dividends, a limit on bonuses for staff and pressure to keep the loans flowing to homeowners and small businesses.
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