Helping out the banks.

[£3.73]

If people really feel that strongly about RBS paying out massive amounts of money in bonuses then perhaps they should consider moving their accounts to another bank? Wouldn't that send a more tangible message to the bank's executives?

Erm ... can you suggest a bank where the Government isn't now the majority shareholder then ???

[EMDEE]

Apparently the justification for giving these people their bonuses is that "we would lose the best people". What best people? The same ones who have wrecked the entire financial system? It now appears that HBOS is going to bring down Lloyds as well, through an ill-advised knee-jerk take over, and the chances are that the Government is going to have to take a major stake there. The financial system is so interconnected and interdependent that there is no saying where this is going to end. My own opinion is that this is a completely unprecedented situation, and the government are just papering over the cracks as they open up, and are feeling their way. The Chancellor is beginning to look like someone who is out of his depth and bluffing his way. The reduction of VAT to 15% was the best fiscal joke of the last year. (Does anybody notice any difference or feel better off?)

Back to the bonuses. It seems to be different times now, where people are rewarded for failure, but there was a time when anyone who had made such a pig's ear of things would be out on their arse before their feet could touch the floor, never mind getting a bonus!

Absolutely unbelievable!

[Tom B]

Erm ... can you suggest a bank where the Government isn't now the majority shareholder then ???

Clydesdale? Nationwide? - I think they haven't taken any government money

[EMDEE]

I'm pleased to see that the Chancellor has been reading this thread and taking my comments on board.

The bonuses for RBS staff will be now be cut from astronomical amounts to merely ridiculous amounts considering that the bank was bust just a few months ago in which case they would all have been getting nothing!.

They are still therefore getting our money!

[dalintober lad]

Erm ... can you suggest a bank where the Government isn't now the majority shareholder then ???

Clydesdale? Nationwide? - I think they haven't taken any government money

Also Barclays

[bill]

Dunfermline building society is the next to be bailed out.

If it carries on like this,with the Bank of England bailing out Scottish financial institutions,there will be no need to print Scottish notes.

[Beachcomber]

We sold our place a couple of months ago an are currently renting. There's anice piece of land I want to buy and build on but the best mortgage deal I can get is 6%, and that's with a good sized wedge of cash to lay down as a deposit.

Now given that the BoE rate is currently 0.5% it seems to me that the banks (the ones we own as well as the ones we don't) are deliberately keeping the rate higher than necessary because they just don't want to lend, despite pressure from Gordon.

The mortgage we just paid-off was at a lower rate than 6%.

[EMDEE]

The formerly proud reputation of the Scottish financial sector has indeed taken a battering over recent months. The one main bank that seems to have escaped so far is the Clydesdale, but then it's Australian.

It is noticeable that the present problems of the banks, together with the loss of customer confidence and trust, and also the lower opinion held by the general public for the service provided vis-a-vis the cost, is closely correlated to the period of the decline, or demise of the local branch manager who had quite a bit of autonomy in lending, using knowledge of customers, and the local economy, and was a known and respected individual in the local area.

It would be good if the branches had someone, in the style of President Harry S Truman, with a notice on their desk stating "the buck stops here"