Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as Greece continued to act as a drag on investor confidence.

This week Greece was given the world's lowest credit rating of CCC by Standard & Poor's, meanwhile European officials and ministers have still failed to agree terms on a second Greek bailout.

It seems that one of the main stumbling blocks to a final agreement is the issue of how the cost of the bailout should be divided.

By 10:00 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 0.88 per cent to 48.12 pence per share, RBS shares declined 1.35 per cent to 40.99 pence per share, Barclays shares fell 1.83 per cent to 259.70 pence per share and HSBC shares dropped 1.14 per cent to 609.00 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was down 0.35 per cent to 5,782.62.

Barclays HSBC FTSE