The FSA report on the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland (pdf available here) was published on Monday this week. The taxpayer loss on the debacle is currently estimated at £25 billion – but that could improve (or worsen) before it is crystallised. The Report is a weighty document (about 300 pages of text [...]
There are two types of fraud: the illegal, usually perpetrated by individuals, small groups or small companies; and the legal, usually perpetrated by major corporations. Consider for a moment inertia selling. It is a fundamental technique, which is indispensable for the profitability of many different enterprises. The basic idea is that you sell someone a [...]
It is hard to feel much sympathy for bankers. No doubt some of them are perfectly wonderful people. But plenty aren’t. Some highly paid bankers “live in a bubble”. They work long hours and socialise almost exclusively with other bankers and highly paid CEOs and tend to develop a strong sense of entitlement. They are [...]
How many people can name more than two top officials of the Bank of England? Most people in finance can probably come up with the name of the governor, Mervyn King. Those who have been around the City for a while probably know Charlie Bean’s name. He is one of the two deputy governors. Another [...]
[Goldman Sachs share price 4 Jan 08 to present] On 23 Sep 2008, eight days after Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. It got $5 billion of preferred stock, paying a 10% dividend, and warrants to purchase $5 billion of common stock at $115 per [...]
