Banks are going cheap these days.

Just over a year after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) bought ABN Amro for GBP 61bn (USD91bn) the British Government has stepped in and bought 58% of the combined banks for GBP15bn (US24bn). An additional £5bn (US$8bn) of preference shares will also be injected.

The purchase of shares agreed last month with the UK Government means that the bank is technically nationalised.

Whether the technical nationalisation will result in effective control will really depend on the Government’s ability to resist the temptation to meddle.