Ex-bank bosses face ban from working in City

[Anna Glypta]

Under the Tories we had numerous regulatory failures after 1986. Barings, BCCI, the Polly Peck scandal. Why Labour thought it could give the financial industry even greater freedom I'll never know. Then again Labour had to get them onside somehow for 1997. Maybe it was the price they had to pay.

 

We've lost our AAA rating. It seems a bit sad and desperate to cling to the crumb of comfort that we haven't been downgraded by all the agencies yet. Although I'm surprised the spin machine didn't think of that one yet.

 

I don't want to upset your line on this but Barings was a pretty insignificant affair and was victim to a rogue trader in Singapore not London.

BCCI was registered in Luxembourg not London and Poly Peck was a fabric manufacture. So I'm not really sure that any really slipped under the radar of the UK financial regulators.

 

Regarding our credit rating. We have been downgraded 1 point by one one rating agency. That almost 3 years after they threatened to downgrade because of the country's mounting debt. The Tories couldn't cancel the debt they inherited but they did satisfy the agencies that they were making the right moves to control it. In the last 2 years we have enjoyed the lowest interest on our debt in the country's history. This is because compared to the rest of Europe our economy is doing quite well.

I note that the Chamber of Commerce is saying we return to growth in the first quarter of the year. Its not much but one hell of a lot better than the Euro Zone.

Considering the mess the country was in in 2010 and the crisis in Europe we are probably not doing to badly. Had we lost our AAA rating in 2010 by not getting spending under control our repayments would likely have spiralled like those in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Ireland, and could be facing up to raids on our private bank accounts.

[I1L2T3]

I don't want to upset your line on this but Barings was a pretty insignificant affair and was victim to a rogue trader in Singapore not London.

BCCI was registered in Luxembourg not London and Poly Peck was a fabric manufacture. So I'm not really sure that any really slipped under the radar of the UK financial regulators.

 

Regarding our credit rating. We have been downgraded 1 point by one one rating agency. That almost 3 years after they threatened to downgrade because of the country's mounting debt. The Tories couldn't cancel the debt they inherited but they did satisfy the agencies that they were making the right moves to control it. In the last 2 years we have enjoyed the lowest interest on our debt in the country's history. This is because compared to the rest of Europe our economy is doing quite well.

I note that the Chamber of Commerce is saying we return to growth in the first quarter of the year. Its not much but one hell of a lot better than the Euro Zone.

Considering the mess the country was in in 2010 and the crisis in Europe we are probably not doing to badly. Had we lost our AAA rating in 2010 by not getting spending under control our repayments would likely have spiralled like those in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Ireland, and could be facing up to raids on our private bank accounts.

 

Rubbish. Polly Peck was a massive corporate scandal partly facilitated by lax financial controls in the city. Eventually Polly Peck has worth billions and controlled hundreds of other companies in diverse industries, not just fabrics. Barings and BCCI were both warning signs of what was possible. Although not on the scale of what has happened recently they were clear warnings about what could happen in a lightly regulated industry, the best reasons I can think of for Labour not making things even more lightly regulated after 1997.

 

As for the AAA rating it's gone. That's the headline. And it has stuck. Take whatever crumbs of comfort you can because there won't be many more.

[Anna Glypta]

Rubbish. Polly Peck was a massive corporate scandal partly facilitated by lax financial controls in the city. Eventually Polly Peck has worth billions and controlled hundreds of other companies in diverse industries, not just fabrics. Barings and BCCI were both warning signs of what was possible. Although not on the scale of what has happened recently they were clear warnings about what could happen in a lightly regulated industry, the best reasons I can think of for Labour not making things even more lightly regulated after 1997.

 

As for the AAA rating it's gone. That's the headline. And it has stuck. Take whatever crumbs of comfort you can because there won't be many more.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Peck

 

Polly Peck International (PPI) was a small British textile company which expanded rapidly in the 1980s and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index before collapsing in 1990 with debts of £1.3bn, eventually leading to the flight of its CEO, Asil Nadir to Northern Cyprus in 1993.[1] The Polly Peck scandal, and Chief Executive Asil Nadir's escape, along with a number of corporate scandals, spurred on reform of UK company law, leading to the early versions of the UK Corporate Governance Code. On 26 August 2010 Nadir returned to the UK to face trial for some specimen charges taken from multiple counts of false accounting and theft he had originally been charged with prior to his escape. Prosecutors allege that he stole more than £150m from Polly Peck in total and on his return he faced trial on 13 specimen charges, totalling £34m. Nadir was found guilty of 10 counts of theft from the company totalling £29m and on 23 August 2012 at the Old Bailey he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[2]

 

Like I said. Sod all to do with financial regulation.

[I1L2T3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Peck

 

Polly Peck International (PPI) was a small British textile company which expanded rapidly in the 1980s and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index before collapsing in 1990 with debts of £1.3bn, eventually leading to the flight of its CEO, Asil Nadir to Northern Cyprus in 1993.[1] The Polly Peck scandal, and Chief Executive Asil Nadir's escape, along with a number of corporate scandals, spurred on reform of UK company law, leading to the early versions of the UK Corporate Governance Code. On 26 August 2010 Nadir returned to the UK to face trial for some specimen charges taken from multiple counts of false accounting and theft he had originally been charged with prior to his escape. Prosecutors allege that he stole more than £150m from Polly Peck in total and on his return he faced trial on 13 specimen charges, totalling £34m. Nadir was found guilty of 10 counts of theft from the company totalling £29m and on 23 August 2012 at the Old Bailey he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[2]

 

Like I said. Sod all to do with financial regulation.

 

Sorry but you are wrong. A lot what Nadir did was made possible by financial institutions with HQs in the city. Financial transactions were never questioned or reported. Many of the transactions were illegal. NatWest was one of the banks implicated.