U.K. banks receive additional taxpayer-funded subsidies of at least £32.5 billion a year ($52 billion), according to the New Economics Foundation. The NEF said the subsidies fall into three categories: “too big to fail subsidy,” whereby the government provides a public guarantee against their failing, saving the banks roughly £30 billion ($48 billion) a year; the “make the customer pay subsidy,” which total at least £2.5 billion ($4 billion) a year, and which comes from high interest rates charged to borrowers to help rebuild bank capital; and the Bank of England’s quantitative easing program, which the NEF said could be in the billions.
