Category Archives: Curiousities

Adulterous Failed Banker Fred Goodwin’s New Human Shield

Back in March, and courtesy of Naked Capitalism’s US locale, we arbed away Fred Goodwin’s superinjunction, which banned UK reporting of his affair with a junior director at RBS. After more challenges by the UK newspapers, the superinjunction has now been amended: it’s OK to identify Fred Goodwin as the failed banker with the wandering body part; but still not OK to identify his partner, who is referred to in the official documents by the code letters “VBN”.

Strauss-Kahn’s Defense, In Two Easy Pictures

Hat tip reader Bruno (click to enlarge):

Gas Pump Woes

Time for comic relief. Hat tip Tim Coldwell (click to enlarge):

Semi-Nude Parliamentary Candidate Protests Against Banker Pay At RBS AGM

I missed this extraordinary scene. When the aspiring politician Kit Fraser stripped to his boxer shorts outside RBS’s annual shareholder meeting last Tuesday, I was already inside the meeting, listening to chairman Sir Philip Hampton defend the bank from shareholder allegations that he had lost the plot on pay.

The Independent Commission on Banking Interim Report, not

9:00 Two hours after publication time, the Commission web site is still down. UK web site capacity planning! I’ll report, umm, later.

Here, there, and everywhere

All the banks are fed up with regulation and they’re all going somewhere else.

Why is a Powerful Faux Liberal UK Think Tank Using a Tarnished Pol and Recycled US Republican Talking Points to Fight Breaking Up Banks?

By Richard Smith

The publication of a pamphlet from Demos, a British fauxgressive think-tank (unconnected with the American think-tank of the same name), is the latest visible move in a not-always-public epic battle between banks and regulators about bank reform. While Americans may assume that the time for regulatory intervention has passed, the preliminary findings of the Independent Banking Commission, a UK body whose output will put an important stake in the ground in the UK, is to be released on April 11th. Whatever mix of legislation, regulation and inaction is deemed appropriate by the politicians will follow the publication of the final IBC report in September.

Given the importance of this report, it should come as no surprise that the banks, or rather the bank that has most at stake, Barclays, is using every available channel to convey dire warnings about how terrible reining in the banks would be, particularly since the banks are really hardly at fault at all.

A curious centerpiece of this effort is this 100 page abortion of a pamphlet, penned by a fallen Labour MP (the usual expense account improprieties), Kitty Ussher.

Adulterous failed banker Sir Fred Goodwin obtains superinjunction

…So the UK press aren’t allowed to call him a banker (!), or mention his infidelity with a married colleague.

However, since MP John Hemming mentioned the case under parliamentary privilege, you can get part of the story from the Telegraph:

He said: “In a secret hearing this week Fred Goodwin has obtained a super-injunction preventing him being identified as a banker.

The Project Merlin Back Story

Not a bad couple of week’s work for the banks, since the “Project Merlin” publicity? Actually it’s taken a bit longer than that, and reconstruction of some of the behind-the-scenes action might be instructive. Although other banks get walk-on parts, the story is mostly about Barclays. Let’s start the timeline in September 2010, when John […]

Budgeting, Australian Style

Even if you don’t get all the political and business references, I suspect you’ll appreciate this video. Hat tip readers hum and Hubert:

How Banks Influence People in High Places

This e-mail to Congressional staffers speaks for itself. I am probably being far too nice by omitting the RSVP details. However, I must note the ethics rules for Congress are more lax than those of some private sector companies. I had one client, a Fortune 25 company, that forbade all employees from taking gifts or entertainment of any kind from vendors, down to a cup of coffee. And that’s not as nuts as it sounds. Research by social psychologist Robert Cialdini verifies that a gift as small as a can of soda predisposes the recipient to a sales pitch.

From: The Financial Services Roundtable