Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word For RBS
Sir Fred Goodwin was forced into a grovelling apology to shareholders after Royal Bank of Scotland, the banking giant that he controls, announced pre-tax losses of nearly £700 million - the second worst ever by a British bank. So what has gone wrong and what can Sir Fred do about it?
A quick straw poll around the City seems to indicate that the majority of analysts believe that Sir Fred's tenure at the bank is coming to a close. He has been at the helm through some major changes, expansion and ultimately some great profits over the years but has 2007/08 been too much for him?
After announcing the largest rights issues in UK history, some £12 billion, many had thought the group was back under control and over the worst. However, the board of RBS was forced to issue update after update charting the ailing fortunes of the group immediately after the fund raising was announced. What started as a well planned and well flagged fund raising soon turned into a PR disaster with institutions forced to stump up massive amounts of cash to save the group.
Subsequent attempts to sell off the company silver also seem doomed to failure with the insurance division set to go for a fraction of the £7 billion valuation initially mentioned to possible bidders.
Share this..
Related stories
Danish Bank Does A Northern Rock!
News that Roskilde Bank in Denmark has been saved from the jaws of collapse by a government led bailout has brought back disturbing memories of the Northern Rock debacle in the UK. While this is the second Danish bank which has required third party assistance the Roskilde Bank is actually one of the majors, being the 8th largest in the country, against a relatively small operator earlier this yea...
Read MoreInterest rates hold
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.75 per cent for a second month running. Analysts and commentators had widely predicted the freeze, based on a sharp fall in inflation in July to 1.9 per cent from 2.4 per cent in the previous month, as well as a desire not to exacerbate fears of credit squeeze. Just over a month ago, many experts were sure that interest would be lifted to six per c...
Read MoreBurglars 'given easy ride by homeowners'
Homeowners across the UK are making life easy for opportunistic burglars by leaving their expensive contents on show, it has been claimed.Research carried out by LV= has suggested that home insurance claims will increase over the festive period because so many people leave items in plain view, so that criminals can easily break in and take what they want.Many people like to leave their curtains op...
Read MoreWhat does the future hold for the UK economy?
As the Office for National Statistics issues yet more revisions regarding the performance of the UK economy during the first quarter of 2009 there are concerns about UK government forecasts for the future. The UK government is forecasting economic growth of 1.25% in 2010 although the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development believes that the UK economy will show no growth and effecti...
Read MoreBritish Sport Subject to ‘Invisible Tax’
It has been revealed that most British community sport is subject to 20pc tax, after an effort against HMRC was stepped up over their plans to levy VAT on 5-a-side football. Although it is possible for some organisations to avoid tax, it is believed that many of us who use gym’s or send children to after school sports classes, pay tax that is never apparent to us. Tom Kivlehan, VAT expert at...
Read More