Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading ahead of a statement due out from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee will be making an announcement later today after looking at the effects of its recent bond-buying programme.

While it is unlikely that the Federal Reserve will start to scale back its quantitative easing programme so soon, investors appeared reluctant to take positions before today's announcement.

By 10:30 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 0.51 per cent to 68.47 pence per share, RBS shares declined 0.48 per cent to 41.62 pence per share and Barclays shares fell 0.26 per cent to 272.60 pence per share.

However shares in HSBC were up 0.26 per cent to 667.20 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was down 0.13 per cent to 5,853.05.

Federal Reserve Barclays HSBC FTSE