Rose Fernandes wrote: Unfortunately, this scandal is going to affect many of us in one way or another. Many of our community work for Barclays Bank and others have current accounts, mortgages, savings and other investments with them some from loyality to this bank from colonial days. All of us must have watched in horror as incredibly one by one of these mature, highly educated, highly paid banking chiefs fought to maintain their credibility and respectability. They eventually decided to resign in order to stop the reputation of this great banking institution from laying on the trading floor in tatters. The most important question, one that not only I but the rest of the country would like to know is just how much of the rate-fixing of the LIBOR rate was known by senior management and precisely when it was known by them?
An investigation started this afternoon, broadcast live, with the former Chief Executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond facing questioning. It will be interesting to see what the conclusions of these investigations are and how, if any, will it affect Mr Diamond's leaving financial package. We are thankful that many of our community who are employed by Barclays were able to return to their work stations. This was not the case when the Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI) was closed overnight some years ago and many of our community who worked for them lost their jobs. What is needed is an urgent change in the law and a zero tolerance of staff involved in such practices. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose Fernandes, 1) I am not sure if the British Govt insures deposits in UK banks. If they do, make sure you do not have a balance of more than the insured amount in any one account. It is also advisable to open accounts in more than one bank as if there is a run on any bank, the bank will close and you will only get the insured part of your deposits back. That is the good news, the bad news is that you may have to wait for a long time for your money and they usually pay you in small installments. 2) Some employees of financial institutions are paid for the risks they take. The higher the risks, the higher the pay/bonus. The well run banks have huge compliance departments that regulate and monitor the risks the banks are exposed to. The banks that are in trouble are those that have taken unacceptable risks and ignored the warning flags. They now have to either die or get the Govt to declare them, "to big to fail." 3) No matter how much regulations a govt passes, it is of little or no use if the management at the bank chooses to circumnavigate the laws. Recently a large US financial institution made bets at their London branch that they were prohibited from making in the US. Then they announced that those bets may have caused the bank to make a loss of $2 billion. Now they say, never mind, perhaps the losses are $9 BILLION. 4) If you really want to get bank nightmares, take a look at the article in the link below. A manager from Citibank tried her level best, in 2011, to inform her managers that the mortgages they were approving were problematic. Remember in 2008 Citibank received $45 billion from the US govt because they made the very same bad housing loans. Citibank fired the manager for her efforts but later got sued by the govt and paid a fine. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-31/woman-who-couldn-t-be-intimidated-by-citigroup-wins-31-million.html 4) I am surprised but glad that you are concerned with and are taking proactive steps to deal with the future. I feel this forum is for people who are mostly interested in the days gone by. In fact, every day, you are almost guaranteed to find a good article on the past here. Once in a while, you might find a post about current affairs. Few, if any, are interested in the future. Mervyn2022
