HSBC Plans to Increase British Mortgage Lending by 20% Next Year

HSBC Holdings PLC, Britain's largest bank, said recently it planned to increase the amount of money it lends to Britons for mortgages by 20% next year. The London-based bank said it planned to lend British homeowners 15 billion pounds ($22 billion) in 2009, a fifth more than it is expected to lend this year and nearly double the amount it loaned in 2007. The move could be a boost for the British housing market, which has seen prices fall by 15% in the last year according to Halifax. The announcement comes a day after HSBC said it would make 1B pounds of extra funding available to Britain's small businesses to help them through the recession. British politicians welcomed HSBC's twin plans, and urged other banks to follow suit. HSBC, which had assets of $2.6 trillion as of June 30, wasn't involved in the British government's program to recapitalize some of the country's banks. The plan, announced in October, will see the government investing 37 billion pounds to buy equity stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, HBOS PLC and Lloyds TSB Group PLC.