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
Scottish banks
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
Apocalypse now and then…ten years after HBOS crash
At the special meeting in Edinburgh to approve the rights issue, chairman Lord Stevenson told shareholders: ‘Armageddon may happen, and we should be prepared for it, and we are.’ Armageddon came three months later and no one was prepared for it.The events leading up to the final collapse took place in New York. On 7 September the US Government announced it was taking the … [Read more...] about Apocalypse now and then…ten years after HBOS crash
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