RBS: Inside the Bank That Ran Out of Money
"The bank that ran out of money". This pun is not the only comical calamity that occurred when The Royal Bank of Scotland or RBS were bailed out for £24 billion by the good old British taxpayer. Words can not describe how I felt after watching this documentary, I would say I got angry but to be honest I'm just gobsmacked by the greed from the people who are in charge of the biggest banks in the world and the people we trust to keep our money safe. Much like my previous blog on "Inside Job" basically like most of America's top banks, RBS went totally pear shaped and needed a bailout of billions from the British government and yours truly the taxpayer.
From watching the documentary I think it's absolutely appalling the extent that RBS went to just for bragging rights. To be known as the biggest bank in the world at their peak. I wonder if these board members who "earned" a healthy pension whilst in their roles think of the thousands of families they have ultimately stole from. Families who would put small amounts of money away each month as a nest egg just frittered away under one man's word. Fred Goodwin. He's the chap who flashed the cash and bought into the lavish lifestyle through using investor money to perform huge, in fact colossal take overs which would have a consequential impact the world.
So Fred was the CEO of RBS in the time it ran up the biggest corporate loss of British history, a loss of £24.1 billion. However when at it's peak RBS grew faster than any other British bank had ever done before, it pulled off record breaking deals and made billions of pounds in investment banking, but I think that when you look at what the board did to RBS in a business sense, it's actually quite impressive. They turned RBS into the world's biggest bank, expanded and grew, all a business desires. However RBS isn't a business, they stole from their investors in a way which not only ruined their reputation, it also ruined many of the lives of the people who trusted the bank. I find it so hard to understand the greed of these people, in my eyes it's looks like a classic case of the rich getting richer.
Now you may ask why this affects me, I look at the situation and think of the people who suffer most. It normally turns out to be people like my mam or dad, or someone's nana or a friend's family who have either lost out through the bank losing its capital or through the tax man coming along and squeezing every last penny they have in order to bail them out. I just feel it's so unfair and shows the lack of respect the banks and also the government have towards the public. The government could have easily intervened and introduced some form of cap on the spending, or just looked at the situation and stopped it before it spiralled out of control, but they didn't and look at us now.
In my overall conclusion I think this documentary shows two sides of the RBS story. It shows the rise and success the bank occurred but it also shows the monumental fall of what was at one stage Britain's biggest bank. Fred's ruthless yet economical mentality put RBS on the map, it allowed for expansion on an epic scale but the cost which followed as the bank piled up the debt caused his reign to end in shame and embarrassment. Something he will live with for the rest of his life.
Let me know how you felt on this topic below.
So Fred was the CEO of RBS in the time it ran up the biggest corporate loss of British history, a loss of £24.1 billion. However when at it's peak RBS grew faster than any other British bank had ever done before, it pulled off record breaking deals and made billions of pounds in investment banking, but I think that when you look at what the board did to RBS in a business sense, it's actually quite impressive. They turned RBS into the world's biggest bank, expanded and grew, all a business desires. However RBS isn't a business, they stole from their investors in a way which not only ruined their reputation, it also ruined many of the lives of the people who trusted the bank. I find it so hard to understand the greed of these people, in my eyes it's looks like a classic case of the rich getting richer.
Now you may ask why this affects me, I look at the situation and think of the people who suffer most. It normally turns out to be people like my mam or dad, or someone's nana or a friend's family who have either lost out through the bank losing its capital or through the tax man coming along and squeezing every last penny they have in order to bail them out. I just feel it's so unfair and shows the lack of respect the banks and also the government have towards the public. The government could have easily intervened and introduced some form of cap on the spending, or just looked at the situation and stopped it before it spiralled out of control, but they didn't and look at us now.
In my overall conclusion I think this documentary shows two sides of the RBS story. It shows the rise and success the bank occurred but it also shows the monumental fall of what was at one stage Britain's biggest bank. Fred's ruthless yet economical mentality put RBS on the map, it allowed for expansion on an epic scale but the cost which followed as the bank piled up the debt caused his reign to end in shame and embarrassment. Something he will live with for the rest of his life.
Let me know how you felt on this topic below.
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