RSS feedsHSBC's chief executive Michael Geoghegan has blamed the rapidly growing personal insolvency industry for the rising levels of bad debts.
This week the five largest banks in the UK are expected to report increased bad debts. Geoghegan said that the marketing of bankruptcy and insolvency agreements by firms was to blame for this, the FT reports.
'It concerns me that there appear to be non-regulated advisers who are advising people, and charging for this advice, to suggest that people should file for bankruptcy,' Geoghegan said.
Over the first half of this year, HSBC said bad debt provisions in the UK rose to £361m to £265m. A third of the bank's provisions on its UK unsecured loan book were related to people going bankrupt or going into individual voluntary arrangements (IVA). This was a 22% increase on the second half of 2005.
