April 13th, 2013 Finally, we have evidence that banks and bankers are not above the law in the United Kingdom. It seems the courts have finally woken up to the fact that allowing them to lie, cheat, deceive and defraud without legal impediment may not be a particularly good idea. As such, yesterday’s appeal court [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: Daily Record Date: March 1st, 2013 Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester was yesterday touring the television studios trying to convince us that he is absolutely determined to make RBS into a “really good bank” once again. The fox-hunting laird of Gogarburn also told us that RBS staff will share [...]
February 6th, 2013 If this is the best he can do, Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester should consider throwing in the towel and conceding what most people already know — that RBS, as it stands, is unmanageable and running an unsustainable business model. Hester (who remains in denial about the egregious wrongdoing [...]
February 6th, 2013 Kevin Mason, a commenter on the Guardian website, had this to say about the £390 million settlement that Royal Bank of Scotland reached with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, US Department of Justice and Financial Services Authority over rampant Libor-rigging today [Mason's words sourced from Graeme Wearden's excellent Libor rigging live blog published [...]
November 18th, 2012 Image: WilliamBanzai7 The bigwigs of the City of London, corporate governance ‘gurus’ in asset-management firms and leading figures from FTSE-100 companies have a penchant for patting themselves on the back over the brilliance of the corporate governance framework they have erected over the past two decades. The UK Corporate Governance Code (formerly the Combined Code of [...]
November 6th, 2012 By Gordon Neave Picture: The Economist During the late 1980s and early 1990s British bankers changed for the worse. Having spent most of the past three centuries as financial herbivores — solid, reliable and rational members of the community — they metamorphosed into wild, hungry carnivores. Fuelled by commissions, bonuses and greed, [...]
October 20th, 2012 (updated October 31st, 2012) On January 1st, 2008, some bright sparks at the FSA decided it was appropriate to grant Advanced Internal Ratings Based (AIRB) status to both Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS. In doing so, the Canary Wharf-based regulator was effectively giving the two Edinburgh-headquartered banks carte blanche to calculate the [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: October 21st, 2012 Stephen Hester and Sir Philip Hampton may be in bullish mood, but is RBS as strong as they claim? By Ian Fraser (Image: The Sun) THE chairman and chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland had something of a spring in their step last week. The [...]
October 2nd, 2012 Speaking to an audience of students and finance industry insiders at the London School of Economics yesterday, Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester renounced the Friedman Doctrine that has done so much damage to our economy and society since the 1970s. Hester said that banks and other companies have been [...]
October 1st, 2012 (updated from July 6th, 2012) (revised October 8th, 2012) Today, Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester used a speech at the London School of Economics to call for a new “compact” between banks and society. With his industry engulfed in scandal and widely despised by customers and the general public, Hester [...]