Blog posts tagged "RBS"

February 1, 2012 9:25 am 31 Comments

Don't just get rid of Fred Goodwin's knighthood - let's rethink the honours system as a whole says Jon Snow.

January 30, 2012 8:54 am 61 Comments

Stephen Hester should be spared the vitriol he is receiving, argues Jon.

October 4, 2010 9:53 am 36 Comments

A financier whom I know calls me over the weekend about the Irish financial crisis. “Jon”, he says, “I trust you know that 80 per cent of the Irish banking crisis was caused by a handful of property developers taking massive punts on the housing and construction market?”

November 3, 2009 11:10 am 17 Comments

As Lord Myners admits that 70 per cent of all share dealing is undertaken by computer systems that allow a trader to hold a share for a nanosecond before selling, Jon Snow asks: is it a good thing to have achieved the socialist ideal of a nationalised RBS bank?

March 25, 2009 6:44 pm No Comments

The shredding of Sir Fred Goodwin’s glassware has an awful inevitability about it. His own behaviour may have led to his demonisation. It’s hard to see how his position can improve until either the authorities act (if there’s a provable case against him) or he tries to make some kind of amends.

March 18, 2009 5:05 pm No Comments

AIG, the US insurer which got through $170bn of taxpayers’ money in order to survive and then had the cheek to pay $165m of it to dozens of senior executives, is up before a congressional committee today.

March 10, 2009 6:45 pm No Comments

I had dinner last night with a private equity guy who is still in the money. Interesting entity. He tipped me to something I had not thought about.

February 26, 2009 6:30 pm No Comments

I’ve just been down to RBS to interview the new chief executive, Stephen Hester – an excellent interview, on Channel 4 News tonight (see extended interview below).

February 19, 2009 12:01 pm 8 Comments

Yes, it’s official, we are in charge of Lloyds Banking Group, aka Lloyds TSB HBOS. In fact we didn’t know it. But we’ve had it since 13 October last year. According to a release that lands on our desks this morning, the Office of National Statistics has deemed that both RBS (which we already knew [...]

January 21, 2009 12:04 pm No Comments

There’s nothing like a quick visit to America to remind you of the interesting contrasts between our two nations – divided as they are by a common tongue. In the United States President Obama tells bankers to show responsibility and forego bonuses because “there are people who are a lot less well off, who are [...]