IFA Watcher - AND they propose to pay themselves bonuses!
09:52 | 04 Nov 2009
It is an unblievable figure especially since the incompetent crooks who have caused this mess are planning on paying themselves multimillion poung bonuses.
We are told that these can't be stopped because they would go overseas. Two options (a) let the garbage go so that we can have some decent honest trustwothy people run our banks or (b) take their passports from them for crimes aginst the British people.
Sparts
09:53 | 04 Nov 2009
Why bother publishing nonsense such as this?
CONSIDER IT AN INVESTMENT!
I wonder if you'll have similar headlines when the time comes for the government to sell off it's stakes in the banks and most likely at a profit.
Mel Logan
10:11 | 04 Nov 2009
and the rest - shares now worth next to nothing -pensions savings lost- employees losing their jobs- branches being closed down - never to reopen - so if any profits ?? ever materialise - taking account the loans and interest due thats not for a long time on £40 BILLION - no small sum - send me a cheque please of better still a gold bar.
White Rabbit - Myths
12:31 | 04 Nov 2009
Some people who have written comments on this topic are under the impression that the money used to bail out the banks has been transacted in the form of interest bearing loans and therefore the government acting on behalf of the British Public cannot lose.
This is simply not true. What the government has done has been to buy a stake (fully risk bearing investment) in these banks in the form of voting shares. The ratio of the governments stake in relation to the other share holders mean that they cannot be out voted. In reality this means the banks in question have, to all intents and purposes bean nationalised.
The misconceptions derive from the fact that the type of shares in Lloyds & RBS are different financial instruments which carry different risks and advantages.
What is true is the fact that if the banks fail a third time, the Government, the taxpayer, you and me will definitely lose a substantial proportion of that investment. Never to be recovered.
As regards the share categories: In the case of RBS the shares are ordinary shares therefore at the moment there is no interest, no dividend, nowt in the form of income, just the hope value that bank becomes self supporting and sustainable again.
In the case of Lloyds the shares are coupon bearing preference shares which have the advantage of being ranked higher in the list of creditors if liquidation becomes inevitable
They also carry an annual coupon of 12% which means the bank is contractually bound to provide payments to the holder at the rate of 12% per annum, but the value of the underlying shares is still dependant on the financial health of the company.
In the present economic climate I think both stakes have been ill considered and are unfair.
The 12% coupon is extortionate and unafffordable given that the majority of lending rates are well below this figure, and mean the bank is unnecessarily hobbled, where as RBS pays nothing by way of a proportion of its cashflow. My solution would be to convert both stakes to preference shares each bearing 6% coupons.
Britain will become poorer
16:13 | 04 Nov 2009
Forget the banks and whats happened over the past 2 years, Unless drastic steps are taken make to restore UK PLC's competitiveness to at least to the 1997 level unemployment will continue to rise and Britain will become much much poorer over the next decade.
This can only be done by initially reducing debt, cutting benefits, sacking all non-jobs such as diversity consultants, outreachers, sexuality advisers, race awareness advisers, bin inspectors etc and by cutting at least £50 Billion from the £100 Billion quang budget.
The huge amounts of money saved used to reduce taxes. First corporate taxes on employment such as NI, then the corporation tax rate to encorage firms to set up here and then on increasing the nil income tax band.
Growth will be promoted, the Exchequer will see an increasing tax take which in turn can be used to property educate our kids, pay decent OA pensions and the NHS.
Trouble is Labour has bought thousands of public sector votes and as all Labour Govts have done in the past they have killed off the private sector goose that lays the public services golden eggs