NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Jan 6, 2012) - British banking shares have been volatile in recent months as investors worry that the UK could eventually slip back into a recession. Recent data issued from the Bank of England shows that while the number of mortgage approvals in the UK reached a two year high in November, overall lending to consumers and businesses remains weak. The Bedford Report examines investing opportunities in the Foreign Banking Industry and provides equity research on HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: [ HBC ]) (LSE: HSBA) and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: [ RBS ]) (LSE: RBS). Access to the full company reports can be found at:

[ www.bedfordreport.com/HBC ]
[ www.bedfordreport.com/RBS ]

In late 2011, Moody's warned the UK that its deteriorating public finances and growth outlook have crimped its ability to retain a AAA rating. While Moody's affirmed that non-euro area sovereigns within the EU -- like the UK -- can be expected to be somewhat cushioned from both the euro area sovereign debt crisis and its rating consequences, Moody's says that "no EU sovereign rating can be considered immune to this crisis."

Moody's argues that the UK faces formidable and rising challenges, and that its "outlook on the rating is likely to be sensitive to future developments in the euro area's debt crisis, even though the UK is not a member of the monetary union."

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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc offers banking and financial services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. According to a recent report from The Financial Times, RBS may cut 10,000 jobs as part of plans to scale back its investment banking business. The cuts are likely to focus on the equities part of the bank's investment division, which generates only a fraction of the company's total revenue and has failed to compete with other firms in the industry, the Financial Times said on its website.

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