U.K. BANKS OFFER FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES AT 10.2 PCT

  Two major U.K. Clearing banks announced
  they will offer a total of 800 mln stg in new mortgages at a
  fixed interest rate of 10.2 pct for the first three years,
  below current bank base lending rates of 10.5 pct.
      Midland Bank Plc &lt;MDBL.L> said it has initially allocated
  500 mln stg for home loans at this rate, while Lloyds Bank Plc
  &lt;LLOY.L> will offer 300 mln stg.
      Earlier this week, Midland said it would cut its standard
  rate of mortgage payment to 11.5 pct from April 1, following a
  half a percentage point reduction in leading banks' base
  lending rates from 11 pct.
      Building society and other bank mortgage rates are largely
  still well above the new base rate level, although last year
  Lloyds offered a fixed rate of 9.9 pct on certain home loans.
      A Midland spokesman said his bank calculated that at the
  current level of 2.7 billion stg, its existing mortgage book
  accounts for about 5 pct of the total British home loan market.
      Lloyds said it has 3.6 billion stg in outstanding mortgage
  loans, but had not estimated its total market share.
      Among other major clearing banks, Barclays Plc &lt;BCS.L> and
  National Westminister Bank Plc &lt;NWBL.L> said they had no
  immediate plans to announce similar fixed rate schemes.
  

