In
amongst the Brexit and Trump hysteria, a little news story got ‘conveniently’
pushed under the mat.
If
I am being honest, I haven’t been very subtle with my opinion on the banking
crisis over the years and in particular, the propping up and rescue that
occurred. The biggest target of my efforts has been the Royal Bank of Scotland
banking group (which includes Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Ulster Bank and
Coutts). So few have been made accountable for poor risk management and yet at
the same time there has been widespread acceptance that banks being morally
corrupt is somehow the norm and acceptable.
Recent
figures from RBS have got me disproportionately excited about all of
this……again. Let me show you where I am coming from:
- The banking group is 72% owned by us.
- RBS have posted £5 billion of losses for 2016.
- This is the ninth consecutive year of losses.
But
here is the big figure for me……
- £370 million was paid out in 2016 in staff bonuses.
And
for dramatic effect, that’s £370,000,000.00. Which leads me to a question I
just can’t get my head around……has £370 million been paid out in bonuses
because a loss of £5 billion is considered a ‘good’ result worthy of financial
reward?
If
you just stop and think about that for a moment, it doesn’t make sense on any
level and actually compounds the losses. Yet as 72% public owned, why are there
no demonstrations taking place? Or do we just accept that owning a loss making
bank is very normal?
Perhaps
only a Trump visit is worthy of demonstration now.
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