Is there such a loan as a subprime, a piece of paper passed from lender to loanee entitled SUBPRIME.?
I suspect not , its just invention of the incompetent money loan industry.
Shame really because the British media have come to believe such a thing exists,another
awful Americanism.

wayne, huntingdon, Cambridgeshire

How may more bank losses will the british taxpayer have to underwrite???????

That is a question EVERY british worker should be asking themselves.

I voting with my feet and withdrawing all my saving from British banks and buying gold and foreign currency. I'd advise others to do the same and be quick about it.

If you can.....emigrate!

NuLabour debt slave, Redhill, UK

It's interesting that, given yet more forecast losses, two of the UK banks mentioned in your report take such an agressive stance in collecting money from insolvent customers, preferring to force people to pay more than they can afford via unqualified "debt advisers" rather than consider sustainable repayment programmes that are monitored by qualified professionals.

Sarah, London,

This is the best buying opportunity of a lifetime, buy Barclays shares and wear diamonds.They are prime for a take over.

The banks have not lost money they have just made provisions, these write downs will be clawed back as I do not see property being valueless in the states.

Think about it this is a panic designed by accountants for accountants. Yes there is no market to mark the CDO's against, but hold to maturity and these CDO's will generate returns. Therefore they have a value.

Purps, Chemlsford, England

The skys falling in! The skys falling in!

No its not.

Its just part of the cycle.

Graeme Brown, Milton Keynes, UK

So the Federal Reserve poured $41 billion into the financial system. As US banks announce hige write-offs, this affects their capital reserves. So they borrow from central banks rather than sell their assets. But why should taxpayers (through central banks) finance the losses of financial institutions. Last August \ September central banks (mainly the European Central Bank and the Fed Reserve) pumped over $450billion into the system arguably to stop the system collapsing. That money is now "hot money" pushing up the prices of gold, oil and other commodities. Central bankers never learn their lesson, if institutions make bad investments then they should go to the wall (a view taken by by Governor King of the Bank of England).

Gita, London, England

Every time you think you have made a personal mistake in life or exercised poor judgement, you should be heartened by what has happened to all these banks, who have some very clever people working for them. To have been so careless with valuing all these bits of paper is surely not what banking is about. It beggers belief what greed can do.

Diddly Do, iverpool,

The crash is coming and about time to! It was becoming so boring listening to all those property stories across dinner tables.

The cycle of peaks and troughs in the UK housing markets will always happen. The downturn was always going to happen.

Lance Harrington, Canterbury, Kent, UK