Treasury pays 6.5m to KPMG for advice on APS
ACCOUNTANCY firm KPMG has been paid more than any other adviser for its work on the Treasury’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS) for bailed out banks, according to a freedom of information request.
Seven firms have been paid a combined £26.5m for their advice on the APS, the Treasury revealed, of which KPMG alone picked up £6.5m.
Accountancy rival Ernst & Young earned £4.3m, while PricewaterhouseCoopers pocketed £4.2m.
Slaughter & May was paid £4.6m for legal advice, the Treasury said.
Investment banks Credit Suisse and Citigroup also provided their services, earning £3.9m and £1.7m respectively, while US-based asset manager BlackRock netted £1.3m for its advice.
The Treasury said it would recoup the fees its has paid for advice by passing them on to the two banks, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), who took up the APS.
Under the existing APS agreement, Lloyds and RBS will insure around £585bn of risky assets between. However, both banks are weighing up options to reduce their participation, with Lloyds expected to launch a series of fundraising initiatives, including a rights issue, to raise up to £25bn.