Whats up with the Scottish bankers ?

[richard]

OK,

In the UK we seem to have had

RBS have a big issue (understatement !!)
HBOS have a big issue and then be bought by Llyods giving them a big issue
Dunfermline (Scotlands largest building society) need bailing out today

Whilst, the non scottish lot
Barclays - just passed its stress test
HSBC - OK
Llyods - would have been profitable save for being forced to buy HBOS I think - but please correct me?

The Scots are renowned for care with their money, so why is it the Scottish institutions having such a hard time ?

R

 

[st4]

Because they are too greedy for their own good....

RBS and HBOS both expanded pretty damn fast and look at them now...

 

[rf065]

Dunfermline..........

a key problem was the building society's exposure to risky assets, after it lost more than £9m in its own IT business and it bought mortgage securities from two troubled American finance houses, GMAC and a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers.
The Dunfermline has suffered partly because of the crisis in the international economic situation
But also by some reckless decisions by previous management because of over-exposure to commercial loans, involvement in the subprime mortgage market in the US and really bad decisions on their technology.


Could have happened to anyone with no business sense!

Russ

 

[ringway]

Dunfermline..........

a key problem was the building society's exposure to risky assets, after it lost more than £9m in its own IT business

and really bad decisions on their technology.

Mmmm... Bright lot then

 

[scumbag]

they need a yorkshire man in charge, that would help?

 

[rf065]

Mmmm... Bright lot then

We usually send them down south to become Prime Ministers of England, in case they meddle in Scottish affairs too often up here.

Russ

 

[MrT]

Add the Government finances which are in the ****, and they are run by Scots.

 

[grober]

OK,

In the UK we seem to have had

RBS have a big issue (understatement !!)
HBOS have a big issue and then be bought by Llyods giving them a big issue
Dunfermline (Scotlands largest building society) need bailing out today

Whilst, the non scottish lot
Barclays - just passed its stress test
HSBC - OK
Llyods - would have been profitable save for being forced to buy HBOS I think - but please correct me?

The Scots are renowned for care with their money, so why is it the Scottish institutions having such a hard time ?

R

CHEAP SHOT only noticeable for its innaccuracy. Barclays or should that be the Bank of Quatar --- HSBC or the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and Lloyds TSB with its profitable subsidiary LLoyds TSB Scotland are not exactly pure Anglo Saxon while RBS, HALIFAX[oops]BOS have long ceased to be "Scottish" True they traded on their good Scottish reputation but as we all know to our cost they left the traditional virtues of thrift ,proberty and canny investment far behind. The problem isn't that the banks were partly Scottish the problem is they wern't Scottish enough.

 

[Frank O' Phile]

You forgot to mention Northern Rock, that collapsed because it is near Scotland.

 

[Smiley]

Do I remember the Scots wanting to separate from England......

 

[richard]

CHEAP SHOT only noticeable for its innaccuracy.

It wasnt meant to be a cheap shot, it was a genuine thought - most companies are not owned by who you would think, I count a company by where its administrative head quarters are and thus where likely most of it;s staff are from

The problem isn't that the banks were partly Scottish the problem is they wern't Scottish enough

And that is probably the answer to my question !

Richard

 

[Dryce]

Do I remember the Scots wanting to separate from England......

That was apparently the plan.

First set it up so that Brown was UK PM, hold referendum and get independence, then seal the border and issue new passports before he could get back in. Sadly thwarted at after the first step.

On a less light note. The Bank of *England* was receiving taxes from those institutions during the delusory better days. It is also tasked with maintaining financial responsibility and collaborating with the FSA on regulation of the banking systems.

 

[Dryce]

The problem isn't that the banks were partly Scottish the problem is they wern't Scottish enough.

Reality check is in order here. The Scots don't have any particular monopoly over the ethos of prudence and thrift.

Suppose Scotland had been independent for a number of years do you think that a Scottish government would have regulated and controlled the banks any better than the Westminster gov? I doubt it. The controlling political order would have been left of centre and very public sector orientated and sowed some of the same poison seeds as Brown and New Labour.

However if it had happened early enough we wouldn't have lost Bank of Scotland to be effectively taken over by the Halifax.

 

[grober]

Reality check is in order here. The Scots don't have any particular monopoly over the ethos of prudence and thrift.

Nor are Scots responsible for the present state of affairs of the banks which has nothing to do with some tenuous historical link in a name of organisations which became global in nature a long time ago [ the major factor indeed in their downfall ] ---which I feel was the implication hinted at by the original poster perhaps unintentionally.

 

[grober]

double post.

 

[Dryce]

Llyods - would have been profitable save for being forced to buy HBOS I think - but please correct me?

I don't think Lloyds TSB was 'forced' to do anything.

They rushed in with their eyes open and without looking - after HMG gave them the nod that they'd look the other way on anti-competition rules.

Suited HMG that they would have HBOS mess cleaned up. Suited Lloyds (or so they they thought) that they would clean up the retail banking market in the UK.

It shows how systemic that the whole problem was that the supposedly strong and sensible Lloyds humbled itself so easily.

How does that compare with RBS's grab for ABN Amro?

 

[ringway]

you forgot to mention northern rock, that collapsed because it is near scotland.

lmho :d:d:d

 

[richard]

-which I feel was the implication hinted at by the original poster perhaps unintentionally.

- completely unintentional - and definetly not a rib at the Scots - the post was made after I heard the news about the building society.

R

 

[crockers]

Well at least the Scottish Banks can print their own banknotes.............

 

[grober]

Fair doos Richard I thought you were having a go at the Scots. I should also explain that when I said the Scottish banks went wrong for being "less Scottish" it wasn't because Scottish bankers were somehow superior to English based banks-- rather that they began to go wrong when they tried to go global instead of sticking with areas their core business was successful in. i.e. Scotland