The Federal Reserve has committed to pump up to $2 trillion into the system with more if needed. The European Central Bank (ECB) disappointed many in the markets by announcing €750bn with possibly more to come. The UK did its bit with £200bn too.All this on top of what they did during the financial (credit) crisis of 2008-10.These would be eye-watering numbers if people could … [Read more...] about Where has all that central bank COVID-19 money gone?
Banking crisis
Bankers ignore lessons of the past
The ruin of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1878 was the biggest collapse in British banking history – until 2008. Its story contains salutary lessons for bankers in any age.The event was surprisingly full for a cold, wet winter night in Edinburgh. But the Library of Mistakes knows how to sell a good story. “A few months after posting record results a major Scottish bank goes … [Read more...] about Bankers ignore lessons of the past
Too big to reform? How banks capture the state
Over the last couple of months, we have published much-read extracts from Ray Perman and Ian Fraser’s books, Hubris and Shredded respectively, to mark the tenth anniversary of the financial crisis that hit western capitalist economies in 2008.Now in the latest Sceptical Scot podcast we ask Scotland’s two top financial commentators to explain what lessons, if any, we have … [Read more...] about Too big to reform? How banks capture the state
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