When will these guys ever learn?
RBOS was brought to its knees by an overbearing clown who bullied his board into paying massively over the odds for ABN Amro, a bank so stuffed with bad debt that it was almost guaranteed to bring down any buyer.
Then we get this;
Lloyds TSB finds that even ‘bargains of the century’ can turn bad, as the debt of HBOS spirals to £10bn.
The upshot is that Lloyds, having lost one third of their share value in one day, is now primed for nationalisation.
It should be clear by now, in the current financial crisis, brought largely on themselves, that there is no such thing as a good deal in banking.
Alistair Darling was on TV last night.
He looked like a man on the cusp of panic, hanging on by a thread.
Brown, appearing before committee at
Or could it have been guilt?
Looking back, was it wise of Brown to give Victor Blank of Lloyds the nod to go for an HBOS takeover, as it was clear that the Halifax debt was dragging the group down, and would jeopardise the Lloyds share values.
The Lloyds shareholders certainly didn’t like it.
Was it wise to over-ride the competition rules, and allow Lloyds to snaffle HBOS?
Was it particularly bright to actively discourage other white knights such as the Bank of China, who would have at least saved most branch jobs at HBOS, unlike Lloyds who already have a high street network of branches.
Was it really smart for the government and Lloyds to lay themselves open to charges of asset stripping HBOS for the personal gain of Lloyds and the political gain of Labour?
Maybe Lloyds felt they were big enough to exploit the market, and buy up weakened competitors.
They were utterly wrong, and Victor Blank should now, as the architect of this, be considering his position.
So, for that matter, should Brown and Darling, who, as the gatekeepers of this deal, are culpable.
The only people I have sympathy for in this are Lloyds shareholders, and HBOS and Lloyds employees.
As usual, it’s the ordinary people who pay when the mandarins screw up.
