Comments on: Sants is leaving a sinking ship http://www.ianfraser.org/sants-is-leaving-a-sinking-ship/ Journalist, Blogger, Broadcaster Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:34:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nikki Turner http://www.ianfraser.org/sants-is-leaving-a-sinking-ship/comment-page-1/#comment-38379 Nikki Turner Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:08:18 +0000 http://89.145.88.120/~ianfrase/?p=1023#comment-38379 Personally I am sorry Hector Sants is giving up on the FSA. Undoubtedly it has a lot of flaws and its lack of transparency has to be a crucial factor in the credit crunch as the 'soft regulation' approach allowed banks to say and do as they liked, as long as they said the right thing to the FSA. After which, the secrecy under which the FSA operates ensured that no one could challenge bankers statements as no one knew what they said. But let's not forget that James Crosby was previously a key figure in the FSA and there's no way anyone was going to really have a chance to investigate banks properly (and especially not HBOS) while he was close to the helm. It isn't long ago since Hector Sants said “people (banks or financial institutions) should be very afraid of the FSA” and, maybe naively, I did feel he meant it and wanted make that statement a reality. But it takes more than one Roman to make a Legion and I'm not sure everyone in the FSA wants to join the army when they can stay comfortably in the Senate eating grapes endlessly supplied by the bankers. As you say Ian, we will probably never know whether Mr Sants is leaving because he's fed up, got a better job or just sticking to his three year time scale? But, whatever anyone thinks of his performance up until now (and I have read some pretty derogatory comments today), he is likely to be a hard act to follow. If nothing else, the man has manners and that's a rare commodity in the Corporate world today. Personally I am sorry Hector Sants is giving up on the FSA. Undoubtedly it has a lot of flaws and its lack of transparency has to be a crucial factor in the credit crunch as the ‘soft regulation’ approach allowed banks to say and do as they liked, as long as they said the right thing to the FSA. After which, the secrecy under which the FSA operates ensured that no one could challenge bankers statements as no one knew what they said. But let’s not forget that James Crosby was previously a key figure in the FSA and there’s no way anyone was going to really have a chance to investigate banks properly (and especially not HBOS) while he was close to the helm.

It isn’t long ago since Hector Sants said “people (banks or financial institutions) should be very afraid of the FSA” and, maybe naively, I did feel he meant it and wanted make that statement a reality. But it takes more than one Roman to make a Legion and I’m not sure everyone in the FSA wants to join the army when they can stay comfortably in the Senate eating grapes endlessly supplied by the bankers.

As you say Ian, we will probably never know whether Mr Sants is leaving because he’s fed up, got a better job or just sticking to his three year time scale? But, whatever anyone thinks of his performance up until now (and I have read some pretty derogatory comments today), he is likely to be a hard act to follow. If nothing else, the man has manners and that’s a rare commodity in the Corporate world today.

]]>