Inbrief

HBOS and HSBC have emerged as the two best-performing British high street banks in a review by Henderson Global Investors. Henderson studied the overall strategy, corporate governance, ethical conduct, employee relations, environmental factors in commercial lending, and sustainable products of the big five UK banks – Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland were the others. The fund manager concluded that HBOS ‘has the most rounded corporate responsibility strategy’, placing special emphasis on employee relations and a strong commitment to diversity in the workplace. HSBC had ‘improved considerably’ in recent times, and ‘now leads the sector in terms of its environmental commitments’.