British banks get $64b bailout deal

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, HBOS Plc, and Lloyds TSB Group will get an unprecedented 37 billion-pound ($64 billion) bailout from the UK as governments across Europe act to avert a banking collapse.

In exchange, Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS will cede majority control to the government, give Prime Minister Gordon Brown seats on their boards, the right to fix dividends, and power to set executives' pay.

"We are going through quite extraordinary circumstances the world over," Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said on GMTV yesterday. "It's very, very important to the future not just of British banks, but working our way through with other governments what is a truly international problem."