
- 608 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
An award-winning journalist details the near-collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland in the late 2000s.
For a few brief months in 2007 and 2009, the Royal Bank of Scotland was the largest bank in the world. Then the Edinburgh-based giantâhaving rapidly grown its footprint to 55 countries and stretched its assets to ÂŁ2.4 trillion under its hubristic and delinquent former boss Fred Goodwinâcrashed to earth.
In Shredded, author Ian Fraser explores the series of cataclysmic misjudgments, the toxic internal culture and the "light touch" regulatory regime that gave rise to RBS/NatWest's near-collapse. He also considers why it became the most expensive bank in the world to bail out and why a culture of impunity was allowed to develop in the banking sector.
This new edition brings the story up to date, chronicling the string of scandals that have come to light since taxpayers rescued RBS and concluding with an evaluation of the attempts of the bank's post-crisis chief executives, Stephen Hester and Ross McEwan, to dismantle Goodwin's disastrous legacy and restore the damaged institutions to health.
Praise for Shredded
"A magnificent book. I regard it as one of the best investigative books of the past decade." âEamonn O'Neill, BBC Radio Scotland
"Impeccably researched and hard to put down at any pointâThe author pulls no punches." âPhilip Augar, Financial Times (UK)
"Combines Greek tragedy with real-life events that have affected us all. It's hard to put down." âDevraj Ray, Mortgage Strategy
For a few brief months in 2007 and 2009, the Royal Bank of Scotland was the largest bank in the world. Then the Edinburgh-based giantâhaving rapidly grown its footprint to 55 countries and stretched its assets to ÂŁ2.4 trillion under its hubristic and delinquent former boss Fred Goodwinâcrashed to earth.
In Shredded, author Ian Fraser explores the series of cataclysmic misjudgments, the toxic internal culture and the "light touch" regulatory regime that gave rise to RBS/NatWest's near-collapse. He also considers why it became the most expensive bank in the world to bail out and why a culture of impunity was allowed to develop in the banking sector.
This new edition brings the story up to date, chronicling the string of scandals that have come to light since taxpayers rescued RBS and concluding with an evaluation of the attempts of the bank's post-crisis chief executives, Stephen Hester and Ross McEwan, to dismantle Goodwin's disastrous legacy and restore the damaged institutions to health.
Praise for Shredded
"A magnificent book. I regard it as one of the best investigative books of the past decade." âEamonn O'Neill, BBC Radio Scotland
"Impeccably researched and hard to put down at any pointâThe author pulls no punches." âPhilip Augar, Financial Times (UK)
"Combines Greek tragedy with real-life events that have affected us all. It's hard to put down." âDevraj Ray, Mortgage Strategy
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Yes, you can access Shredded by Ian Fraser in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Economics & Business History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Preface
- 1 The battle Royal
- 2 Mathewson to the rescue
- 3 Rebuilding the Royal
- 4 Hanging on the telephone
- 5 Financial engineering
- 6 Wings spread
- 7 Georgeâs big ambition
- 8 The Fred and Johnny show
- 9 Bagging NatWest
- 10 Anglo-Scottish blend
- 11 The wrong kind of growth
- 12 The fear culture
- 13 Wall of silence
- 14 Riding the Tiger
- 15 Royal Bank of Fred
- 16 Laird of Gogarburn
- 17 Enter the pharmacist
- 18 Fundamentally supine
- 19 Three pillars of ignorance
- 20 All-American boy
- 21 No more deals
- 22 Failed alchemists
- 23 Bad leveraged bets
- 24 Iâm a-shattered, shattered!
- 25 That Border Collie feeling
- 26 Explosions at ABN
- 27 Drink the Kool-Aid
- 28 The crash
- 29 Deathâs Head
- 30 Fred found out
- 31 Defibrillation and despair
- 32 False dawn
- 33 Hesterâs ledger
- 34 Et tu, George?
- 35 McEwanâs uncertain remedy
- 36 Normalisation of sorts
- 37 Komodo dragon
- 38 Largest theft anywhere, ever
- 39 The guilty men
- Epilogue: Flight of fancy?
- Glossary
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index