Fred Goodwin is deeply culpable for what happened to RBS, given that he was chief executive from 2000 to 2008.If he had run the bank differently, if he had been less blind to risk, if he hadn’t pushed for rapid growth in leveraged finance, commercial property and structured finance at the worst point in the cycle and if he hadn’t bought parts of ABN AMRO in order to assuage … [Read more...] about Conclusion? RBS Shredded Part Four
Financial crisis 2008
The Guilty Men: RBS Shredded Part Three
Royal Bank of Scotland was not alone in being shabby, reckless, greedy, dysfunctional and corrupt during the build-up to the crisis. Nor in its aftermath.Many other banks only survived as a result of broader rescue programmes and money-printing by central banks. The Royal Bank was very much a creature of its age. With growth its main focus, the board of directors and its … [Read more...] about The Guilty Men: RBS Shredded Part Three
Capital flight – how RBS was shredded: Part Two
At the end of August (2008), Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) gave a remarkably candid interview to The Guardian’s Decca Aitkenhead at his dynastic croft on Great Bernara, an island off the Isle of Lewis.The chancellor said the economic times ‘are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years’. He also said: ‘And I think it’s going to be more profound and … [Read more...] about Capital flight – how RBS was shredded: Part Two
How Lloyds swallowed HBOS hook, line and sinker
On 19 September 2008, with HBOS heading for the rocks, CEO Andy Hornby shakes hands with Lloyds CEO Eric Daniels. Watched over by his chairman, Sir Victor Blanks, Daniels claims ‘an enormously good deal’. Both men fail to spot warning signs of a looming catastrophe: a staggering £10 billion black hole of debt. Now read on. Scotland has been home to many lost causes, and … [Read more...] about How Lloyds swallowed HBOS hook, line and sinker
How Scotland’s premier banks crashed the economy: ten years on
With hindsight we should have seen it coming a long time before. But it wasn’t until 15 September 2008 that the world woke up to the first shock waves of the biggest financial disaster since the Great Depression.Ten years later the ripples are still spreading. Unfinished business is what the Financial Times calls the crisis which broke banks, rocked governments, wrecked … [Read more...] about How Scotland’s premier banks crashed the economy: ten years on