BBC Blog Network

User Profile

invernevis

Listed below are comments made by invernevis between Tuesday, 7th October 2008 and Saturday, 17th October 2009.

«Newer
Older»

The strategic significance of Salmond's speech 10:37pm on 17 Oct 2009 As some of your correspondents state, Mr Salmond, in his speech, seemed to suggest that Scotland should be somehow exempt from any spending cuts initiated by whoever comes to power following the General Election.

What he seems to neatly forget is that the present level of Government borrowing is due to the massive bail out of the Banks, principally RBS and what was HBOS - both effectively Scottish. If Scotland had been independent prior to the banking crisis where would Mr Salmond have raised the money to bail out RBS/HBOS or would he have let them "go to the wall"? His previous somewhat naive comment that the crisis would not have arisen misses the point that both Banks are really global concerns and not purely domestic.

The plain fact is that both RBS/HBOS,(now Lloyds) are still trading and safeguarding Scottish jobs is due to the present Westminster Government shoring them up with public funds.
Expressions of sympathy 9:49pm on 02 Apr 2009 On a day of great sadness for many families in the U.K., although principally in Scotland, is it not pathetic that many of the respondents to this blog are seeking to make a case for constitutional change.

No real expressions of sympathy just an opportunity for political point scoring and an attempt to drive forward the need for independence.

It just shows how narrow minded the separatist lobby are and this comes from a Scot who proudly lives in Scotland.
Davos and trust 4:45pm on 28 Jan 2009 Perhaps some of these Bankers are negotiating to stay in Switzerland to escape possible criminal proceedings about their lamentable handling of financial matters?

Or are they there to open secret bank accounts to stash away the loot which they plundered over the years?

Is "Fred the Shred" there - if so, he will be in good company as the "world's worst banker"?

Hopefully, Switzerland does have extradition treaties so that we can get some of these incompetents back to "face the music"
Christine talks Strictly Come Dancing 9:36pm on 24 Nov 2008 Christine,

I voted for you twice on Saturday since I felt you had been "got at" by the "odious four". On the other hand, some of the Judges, (we know who they are - particularly the one of Hot Gossip fame - are more deserving of criticism than others and they were to blame for John's decision to step down.

So Christine, you must keep the flag flying for the One Show - I'm sure that those who voted for John over the weeks will now switch their allegiance. I'd love you to win for it would be interesting to see Adrian's face.

P.S. Will you send me a bit of your wedding cake when you finally tie the knot with Matthew?
Will HBOS stay independent? 11:33am on 10 Nov 2008 Is this the same George Mathewson who, as Chairman of RBS, colluded with Fred Goodwin to achieve profits at any cost and involved RBS in what could be described as imprudent lending?

This man's credibility to attempt to lead a Bank such as HBOS is beyond belief - he must either be arrogant or naive, or both.

To date, neither Mr Burt or Mr Mathewson have come up with any tangible ideas, far less cash, for rescuing HBOS - one could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another nationalist "stunt" by Mr Mathewson.
Confident performance, but don't mention Iceland 10:10pm on 19 Oct 2008 Mr Salmond is way off track in blaming the PM for the economic problems whilst conveniently forgetting that the present turmoil was caused by greed and aggressive sales and marketing by the Banks so that even greater bonuses could be paid to the banking hierarchy.

RBS are a global bank and Mr Salmond appears to say that, if Scotland was independent, there would have been a greater degree of control over irresponsible lending practices. How was he going to achieve that especially since the majority of the RBS profits came from outside Scotland?

It is not many weeks since Mr Salmond called those Bankers/Hedge Fund Managers "spivs and speculators". In his speech today, I didn't hear any such criticism of Messrs Matthewson and Goodwin - how hypocritical can you get?
Humbling of our banks 6:12pm on 12 Oct 2008 If, as Robert predicts, Fred Goodwin of RBS resigns tomorrow it will be a clear admission of his reckless culpability in steering this well respected bank "on to the rocks". During Goodwin's time, greed and profit became the new euphemisms for recognised banking practices as he drove his staff to meet ever more demanding targets.

However, he will leave RBS a very rich man leaving others, principally the taxpayers, to pick up the bill for his failures. I suppose it's too much to expect Goodwin to repay some of the hefty bonuses which he has been paid over the past few years for profits, many of which we now learn were founded on worthless paper.

I seem to recall that he also got his knightwood for services to banking and for contributing to the massive profits of RBS - will he now accept that this was a false honour and give back his "gong"?
End of an era 10:02pm on 07 Oct 2008 As a former employee, (now retired), of a major bank the only two words which come to mind to define this crisis are targets and greed.

No thought was given to the credit worthiness of borrowers but instead this was casually pushed to one side as management bullied employees to achieve impossible financial targets. Those employees who did not achieve these targets - some did try to act responsibly - were either earmarked for severance/early retirement or were subject to disciplinary action. As a result, former colleagues had to go along with this bullying and threatening behaviour since their jobs and prospective bonuses depended on it.

The only aspect concerning the bank hierarchy was what the figures looked like on a week to week basis - their attitude was the future would take care of itself and the "chickens have now certainly come home to roost, big time".

However, what can you expect from powerful individuals who only had one agenda - how to make as much money for themselves in as short a time as possible and they certainly achieved this by docking annual bonuses more than most people earned in a lifetime. Where are these guilty people now? Why are they now not in the fullest public eye - I guess they have run for cover. During the past few weeks, I have not seen one CEO of a major bank give an interview explaining why they have presided over such a mess for which the long suffering taxpayer now has to pick up the bill.

At the very least, they should give back some of their inflated bonuses which were earned on the back of worthless paper. Recently, it was announced that the CEO of Lehmann was paid about $300m in salary and bonuses in the last 8 years - I'll bet he's happy - pity about the poor employees who have lost their jobs through his incompetence.

I hope that some good can come out of this mess and, in the future, perhaps financial decisions will be based on reality - is it too much to hope that a degree of morality will also pertain to financial matters?

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

invernevis