Repair mode continues as credit crunch continues to bite

RBS rights proposals indicate banks' desire to alleviate balance sheets, while big issues in the banking sector point to a U-shaped rather than V-shaped recovery

This week's debate covered the outlook for UK equities. Present were Hugh Yarrow from Rathbone's Unit Trust Management, Credit Suisse's Graham Ashby and Peter Fuller, who is director of research at Standard & Poor's. Does the proposed rights issue for RBS mean the end of the credit crunch crisis? Hugh Yarrow (HY): The simple answer is no. It is not just RBS that needs to raise capital - we have already had about $150bn raised globally and I am sure there will be more from the banking sector. The reason the banks are raising captial is not for new lending, it is very much to repair the...