The banking sector has been under considerable pressure since the financial crisis over ten years ago. The impact of the Government rescue programme is still being felt today as although Lloyds Banking Group is now back in public ownership, the recently renamed Natwest Group (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) remains majority owned by the UK Government. More recently, the sector was banned from paying dividends by the regulator due to concerns about coronavirus and the knock-on effect on the economy which could lead to increasing levels of bad debts. Some commentators now believe that the sector is uninvestable due to the high level of regulatory control. We do not share this view but we tend to think that banking shares are for trading as opposed to holding for the long term. Our banking share tips are therefore more for stock market traders than long-term investors.
