In the first decade of the 20th century, countries around the world suffered from a severe recession. The United Kingdom was affected deeply with a 6% fall in GDP, a rise in unemployment to over 12%, and a 50% fall in home and commercial property prices.
On this day, October 13th, in 2008, the British government infused $64 billion into the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Lloyds TSB, and HBOS Plc.
The Prime Minster at the time, Gordon Brown, announced that the Treasury would invest these funds into the major UK banks in order to avert an entire financial sector collapse. Barclays alone did not accept capital investment by the UK government because it raised enough capital privately.