Category Archives: Fred Goodwin

And it was all going so well…

Posted on May 20, 2020 by henry tapper

Like a cobra poking it’s head out of the Fakir’s basket, like Nessy sticking its neck out of the Loch, the black mortality line is a stark reminder for those who think they’ve got away with it, that Covid-19 is … Continue reading →

Posted in coronavirus, Fred Goodwin, pensions | Leave a comment

Has Webb scotch’d the commission snake – or killed it?

Posted on May 12, 2013 by henry tapper

All the advisers needed to do was to make promises. They did not have to keep them. Continue reading →

Posted in annuity, Fred Goodwin, pension playpen, pensions, poetry, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

No win no fee – one way to clean up asset management

Posted on March 12, 2013 by henry tapper

I met yesterday with a Swiss firm whose business is to reduce the investment costs for large investors (typically with €500m +). The model is simple, no retainer – they receive 50% of the savings from their work. They are a … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, Change, corporate governance, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, de-risking, Fred Goodwin, FSA, Management, napf, pension playpen, pensions, RBS, redington, Retirement, twitter | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How the banks try to f*ck us – and how we deal with them

Posted on March 10, 2013 by henry tapper

It’s Sunday morning and I am reading a poem written around 1936 by Ezra Pound. It is about Usury , in this context the bad practice of the Medici Bank which Pound claimed screwed up the great artistic achievements of medieval … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, ezra pound, Fiduciary Management, Financial Education, Fred Goodwin, governance, happiness, pensions, poetry, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reformation The Mallowstreet Party

Posted on July 19, 2012 by henry tapper

Vincent Franklin looked out from what used to be the roof of City Telephone Exchange. The Exchange (according to Con Keating) had walls fifteen metres thick and had been built to withstand a nuclear bomb. They’d pulled it down to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, Change, Church of England, corporate governance, economics, Fred Goodwin, leadership, mallowstreet, Olympics, Olympics 2012, pension playpen, pensions, redington, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Hose down RBS and Coutts before you put them on the forecourt.

Posted on March 27, 2012 by henry tapper

There is a Coutts cash point in my high street – Eton High Street. It charges other bank’s customers for the privilege of using it. You can do that if you have the banking cachet that Coutts believes it has. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, Change, corporate governance, customer service, Fred Goodwin, Management, RBS, Retail Distribution Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Don’t blame Stephen Hester – we made his rules.

Posted on January 30, 2012 by henry tapper

If anything is to be learned from current events, it needs to be learned about how the rules are established (not whether they are applied). Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, Church of England, corporate governance, dc pensions, Fred Goodwin, pension playpen, pensions | 4 Comments

Can no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?

Posted on October 30, 2011 by henry tapper

The running gag is that the Church of England’s the Tory Party at prayer and if there’d been a Tory party in 1170 I reckon they’d regard Giles Fraser and Thomas Beckett as peas from the same pod. My Sunday … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, Church of England, Fred Goodwin, Occupy London, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What to do with Fred Goodwin’s refunded pension

Posted on March 9, 2010 by henry tapper

Of course it’s only been a decade or so since RBS bought Natwest and you can’t expect integrated systems or customer services overnight. So I’m prepared to forgive RBS for forgetting about customer service, after all they are a mighty investment bank and one that as a nation we can all be proud of.
Continue reading →

Posted in Fred Goodwin, RBS | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment