Crack open the champagne while you still can

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ggest-uk-banker-bonuses-since-financial-crash

Well done everybody.

 

Makes my pigging blood boil,old and infirm struggle to get to a bank because of all the branches they have shut, interest rates making savings virtually pointless, but hey let’s look after the hoorah bloody Henrey’s

 

This is excellent on this subject

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013xch

 

I don't have to imagine. During the 2007/8 financial crash one of my clients was RBS. I had a meeting there on the day when the whole thing came crashing down. As I we found out later it was the day, the country was 24 hours away from the cash machines running dry. The amazing thing was that in the RBS headquarters building there no sense of anything being out of the ordinary.

During the meeting I had to make some recommendation on overdraft charges. I ended by saying “I think that would be fair…”

Silence.

For a few uncomfortable seconds no one said a word

Then one woman turned to me dead-eyed and hissed out the repulsive word I’d dared to use.

“Fair… Fair? We’re not here to be fair… we’re here to make as much money as we can out of people…”


The Royal Bank of Satan.

 

I've said it numerous times.
People should read. The Ragged trousered philanthropist.
George Orwell said it should be on the school curriculum.

 

Has anyone else been watching the BBC series Chloe? It's a strange watch, and I find it a bit uncomfortable watching a series about rich luvvies - their whole lifestyle makes me want to wretch.

 

I was working in Gogarburn - RBS Headquarters - that day and remember it well. I had only just started contracting and was pretty new to working in Financial Services and therefore had very little knowledge of the wider picture. My main memory was of staff talking about the RBS share price and if it was a good entry point. Up to that point, I had never worked in a place that openly discussed it's share price - I think the share price was 240p when I joined and about 4 months later it went as low as 9p. Essentially, everyone in the bank would have lost their jobs without Government intervention yet an entitled atmosphere remained for sometime after. In those days it wasn't a pleasant place to work - I've been back about 5 times since then and it's gradually improved as an organisation however I still don't feel comfortable working there and have fortunately managed to avoid the place in the last 5 years. I don't think I ever forgave the bank for cutting up my bank card in front of me when I graduated because I was £10 over my overdraft limit.

 

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Is something going wrong with the 'reply' to post thing?

Anyway totally agree with the above. Those people at the head office were – and this is the best I can say of them – the scum of the earth. They were in awe of Fred Goodwin. They told me the following stories with admiration.

Goodwin once went into a furious rage at the tea lady in a board meeting and flung a plate of biscuits across the room. Why? There were some pink wafers on there and he hated the colour pink.

The new Carpets at Gugarburn were the corporate dark blue. But they had a very fine pink dot in them. He had the lot ripped out and replaced at a cost of £300,000.

He bought the bank ABN Amro (for £17 billion I think) to make RBS the world’s biggest bank. He refused to do any due diligence before buying. He simply waved it aside. That was instrumental in bringing them down.

They thought he was a genius and were actually sorry when he got booted out. I’d say he was a psychopath.

 

I read it about 40 years ago , a good read .