Paper reports John Paulson major short seller of UK banks

Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:14am BST

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - John Paulson, a New York-based hedge fund manager, is one of the biggest short sellers of British bank stocks, according to regulatory filings, the Financial Times reported on its website Tuesday.

Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Co, made bets against four of the five biggest British banks. His positions included a 350 million pound bet against shares in Barclays (BARC.L), a 292 million bet against Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and a 260 million pound bet against Lloyds TSB Group plc LSB.L, the newspaper reported.

Those banks are among the 34 financial firms on the short selling ban list imposed last week by U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority.

Paulson bet against the housing market last year, netting him more than $3 billion.

John Paulson is not believed to be related to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

(1 GBP=$1.8562)

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Gary Hill)

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