Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite the ongoing crisis that is engulfing Greece.

Today the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, faces a confidence vote in the Greek Parliament, just days after forming a new cabinet charged with pushing through the austerity measures needed for the country to qualify for its bailout payments.

A Greek default is looking increasingly likely, despite fears that such an incident could lead to another Lehman Brothers style banking crisis.

The ongoing crisis has done very little for the share price of Britain's major banks, but despite this there was a minor rally, perhaps aided by hopes that British banks carry less exposure to Greece than their French and German counterparts.

By 11:10 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 0.76 per cent to 46.80 pence per share.

However RBS shares rose 0.10 per cent to 38.55 pence per share, Barclays shares increased 0.93 per cent to 254.90 pence per share and HSBC shares climbed 0.07 per cent to 603.90 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up 0.58 per cent to 5,726.21.

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