British banks hit by new mis-selling scandal

March 11th, 2012, 05:48 AM

Britain's leading banks are facing new allegations of mis-selling complex financial products to hundreds of small businesses despite them having little knowledge of what they were buying, a Sunday Telegraph investigation has revealed.

The businesses claim the banks profited at their expense from pushing them to take out highly complex interest rate derivatives.

All of the UK's major banks, including Barclays and HSBC, as well as taxpayer-backed lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, are facing legal action which could lead to billions of pounds of damages for small and medium-sized businesses.

British banks hit by new mis-selling scandal - Telegraph