Investing.com - British bank stocks were mostly lower in European midday trade on Monday, as a note of caution set in with Prime Minister Theresa May set to present her 'Plan B' for Brexit to parliament later in the day.
May will make a statement in the House of Commons at about 15:30 GMT (10:30 AM ET) as she looks to secure a fresh withdrawal agreement before the March 29 deadline to leave the European Union (EU). Her Brexit divorce deal, the result of nearly two years of negotiations with the EU, was voted down by 432 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament last week. Her efforts to win over opposition lawmakers with modest concessions went nowhere at the weekend.
"May's latest statement on her Brexit intentions is likely to suggest that her Plan B is simply to carry on with her Plan A," said Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets. He said discussions would be held in the hope of avoiding "the major economic self-harm of a no deal."
With just over two months left until the U.K. is due to leave the EU, there is no agreement in London on how it should leave the world's biggest trading bloc. The FTSE 350 Banks Index was down around 0.3% in London by 11:40 GMT (6:40AM ET).
Metro Bank PLC (LON:MTRO) led losses, with shares down 1.7%.
Barclays (LON:BARC) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) were also lower, with shares each dropping about 0.8%, while HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) dipped 0.3%.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) saw shares outperform however, rising 0.4%. Standard Chartered is more exposed to Asian economies, and rose on hopes of more stimulus from Beijing after data showing that China's economic growth slowed to a 28-year low in 2018.
-- Reuters contributed to this report