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How many "Groundhog Days"
How many companies needlessly closed?
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/blogs/mrbradrmeyer/something-about-me/ru...
Fraud or worse ?
Surely this is conspiracy to commit fraud at best.
I would hope that the further investigation Tomlinson has asked for will look closely at the impact on the business owners and their families. When a business is forced into liquidation (particularly a healthy business - these poor people must have wondered what on earth they'd done wrong !), the impact can be devastating in terms of both earnings and self esteem.
If information comes to light that there were any suicides because of this appalling behaviour by RBS and their appointed co-conspirators, I feel it would be justified to seek charges of corporate manslaughter. But I'm not betting on it happening, there are too many politicians with non-exec directorships at stake.....
Astonishing
The politicians, particularly Vince Cable, haven't got a clue. The banks get into trouble through imprudent lending. Having been bailed out, they are then criticised for not lending more to SMEs who, by definition, given the depth and duration of the recession, are likely to be more risky than when the banks got into trouble in the first place.Then, to cap it all, when banks attempt to recover assets from failing/insolvent companies, they are criticised again.I know it's not PC to defend banks but they are being attacked whatever they do. What would be the reaction if they continued to finance failing/insolvent companies and then were forced to write off even more debt (which would be described as being at the taxpayers' expense) once they had missed the opportunity to get out relatively unscathed.
Capitalism
I have just read some of the other comments. Oh deary me, the poor people who have lost their businesses!! These are exactly the sort of people who should't be in business in the first place. Remember Thatcher and the survival of the fittest. It's called Capitalism.
This isn't capitalism.
This isn't capitalism.
I agree that some businesses aren't viable and should be allowed to go under; that is a natural evolution and is how capitalism should work.
But RBS were destroying perfectly viable businesses by a variety of thoroughly dishonest methods. These methods may have been (borderline) legal, but the intent was short-termist and intended to cause deliberate harm.
Covenants
If the companies have breached their covenants they must bear the consequences. That's how capitalism works. Maybe we should replace the system with one where the borrowers can go crying to people like Alonicus to prop up their failing businesses.
The moral is surely that businesses should be more careful in what they sign up to.
Who regulates ICAEW. I wrote to the Privy Council and got a reply which said that they did not get involved with disciplinary matters.
The banks have learnt from us
Back in the days when the Big 4 was more numerous (OK the late 80s) there was a lot of press about the insolvency departments - reference to the insolvency departments as being large was a reference to waist size because the IP seemed to do most of their deals over lunches. The story was the bank would appoint the firm to review its security. The report would be negative, the bank would appoint a receiver, who would put in a negative report resulting in an administrator, repeat performance by the administrator resulting in a liquidator and the company would be sold at a song to a favoured client.
The banks cottoned on, advising the initial advisor that any progress along the chain would involve a different firm each step of the way. Suddenly the companies were no longer iffy.
Roll on 20 years and the banks have cut out the middleman and taking the profit themselves. You cannot say we did not teach them well.
Not always zombie businesses
It's easy to assume that the businesses are hopeless cases, but in my experience, that's been far from reality. Time and time again, I've seen business owners in despair because their loans/overdraft havn't been renewed - these are cases where there's been no breaches and the renewals have always been no problem in the past. These are cases where the business hasn't shown any great difference as to profit/turnover levels compared with previous years. It's just that the bank have decided not to renew, often without notice, leaving the business owner high and dry. Suddenly finding all monies paid in "appropriated" by the bank to reduce the overdraft facility or pay off loans, and finding their cheques and standing orders bounced will usually cause the downward spiral, especially when the bank charges the "unauthorised overdraft fees" and "bounced payment fees" arising from their own last minute decision to cancel facilities.
I fully agree that hopeless cases and zombie businesses can't expect guaranteed bank support for ever, but I know that isn't always the case.
I've also seen where the bank lies and tells the business owner that some funds paid in, maybe from the sale of assets or part of the business, will be shared between paying down the borrowings and leaving some in the bank to pay off creditors and staff, only to take the whole lot when the money arrives!
Thank goodness that their underhand (if not criminal) tactics are getting publicity which hopefully will lead to them being forced to stop these damaging practices.
then prosecution should follow
If this is deliberate then prosecution should follow!
looks like fraudulent trading s.993 CA2006
The police should therefore investigate a serious matter that carries up to ten years inside.
The fraud would seem to lie with the banks, possibly helped by the insolvency rules but no collusion is perhaps necessary. Even if this had been spotted and reported to SOCA still no action would have been taken.
No enforcement = no sanctions = No law
I bet the shredders are overheating again!!!!
Still as we have seen with drugs money laundering, governments and law enforcement take a very lenient view and it may even result in a fine which is a small fraction of the amount stolen.
Bankers Bonuses Bolstered by Bogus Bankruptcies
The above is writ large on the side of my double decker Routemaster bus which I purchased 8 years ago as being the only way I could see of getting the message out about the criminal practices of greedy banks in collusion with insolvency practitioners and the courts to rob the hard working private business people of the UK. Why are the media setting about RBS when their partners NatWest are possibly the very worst of all the banks to defraud people. NatWest stole proceeds from letters of credit for export goods, stole direct credit transfers from the Bank of England on my accounts. We have on record a case of NatWest employing the services of an ex-Katanga mercenary to silence a customer who refused to give up after NatWest defrauded him of his businesses and property. This case is covered on my Website www.force4justice.co.uk under "Cases" the PDF file is titled The Quarryman. Check out some of the other cases while you are logged on.
Public Banks & Fair Banking (cf fair trade)
One reform that is clearly needed is a 'Public Bank of Last Resort' that businesses threatened of being defrauded by collusion between private banksters and private bean counters can turn to for Fair Banking services based on Fair Banking (cf fair trade) criteria. Prosecution and imprisonment in the many instances of Criminal Conspiracy to Defraud is the other reform necessary to deal with this category of white collar crimes...and preferably this side of suicides and corporate manslaughter. Next comes the question of why Fair Banking should be restricted to judicial persons. This criminal practice is rife among natural persons...ie. the people referred to by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address as those for whom and by whom governments were created. Just a pity he didn't say governments and businesses.
Banking impropriety
The facts of this case are not so complicated, nor are they so technical that even an MP was able to get his head around them.
There is a 'prima facie' case here and RBS seemingly, has colluded with insolvency practitioners and undermined a good business to offset in some small way their own banking incompetence. Shame on them!
If the justice system in the UK has real fairness at its core, there will be prosecutions; but better not hold ones breath.
Fraud and RBS
The corrupt culture at RBS started at board level and, as they deliberately close businesses by unscrupulously calling in loans to collapse them (Front page, Daily Mail, 25.11.13), its clear that corruption goes right through RBS.
RBS should have been allowed to go into liquidation when their corruption caused their insolvency.
The nation of Iceland did precisely this, arrested and imprisoned its bank directors, and started new banks, taking over the accounts of the failed ones. They are now the most successful economy in Europe.
RBS still needs to be closed, and its directors arrested, or the corruption will never stop.
And there are major firms who are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants who have clearly been signing clean audit reports on insolvent banks. Their partners need to be similarly arrested, as do those who were running the Financial Services authority, which was clearly the most corrupt and incompetent regulator we have seen.
Think you might be right!
The corrupt culture at RBS started at board level and, as they deliberately close businesses by unscrupulously calling in loans to collapse them (Front page, Daily Mail, 25.11.13), its clear that corruption goes right through RBS.
RBS should have been allowed to go into liquidation when their corruption caused their insolvency.
The nation of Iceland did precisely this, arrested and imprisoned its bank directors, and started new banks, taking over the accounts of the failed ones. They are now the most successful economy in Europe.
RBS still needs to be closed, and its directors arrested, or the corruption will never stop.
And there are major firms who are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants who have clearly been signing clean audit reports on insolvent banks. Their partners need to be similarly arrested, as do those who were running the Financial Services authority, which was clearly the most corrupt and incompetent regulator we have seen.
Corruption is the only explanation as the inaction of government departments also goes way beyond incompetence.
Can't see it being fixed when MP's don't see anything wrong with fraudulent expense claims.
It's a UK corporate culture problem based on "it's not illegal if you don't get caught"