The HBOS are in the same situation .I am going to take up the shares in HBOS as I believe they are a good investment for the future (at least one year) and can at the present moment afford to take them up,. I believe that all banks shares are underpriced at the moment and even think they may fall further for a short period of time but am prepared to wait that amount of time before taking my profit.I see no difference in HBOS and Barclays in the rights issue of share and would go for Barclays also IF I had a holding