Banking shares contribute to FTSE retreat

Shares in a number of banks were lower at the midway point of trading on the FTSE 100 today, as concerns were raised over news the Treasury may introduce a windfall tax on bonuses paid to some employees.

At 11:55 GMT, the index had retreated to 5,297 points, Reuters reports, with Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays two of the financial institutions to fall.

They were joined by Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC, with the five seeing their stock slide by as much as 3.3 per cent.

Joshua Raymond, a market strategist at City Index, said that the opening session on the market had been ’fairly lacklustre’.

He added that the news of a potential windfall tax had been met with ’apprehension’ by investors, noting that they have opted to move some of their money away from UK banks ahead of the Pre-Budget Report, which will take place this week and could include details of such a tax.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19499493-ADNFCR