Salmond’s Lawyers help out shamed banker : Law firm awarded part of a massive £20m contract by Scottish Ministers is buying houses for Fred Goodwin.A PRIVATE FIRM OFLAWYERS working for Alex Salmond’s Scottish Government, Maclay Murray & Spens LLP (MMS) are today revealed to be helping buy properties for the former Royal Bank of Scotland Chief dubbed the “World’s Worst Banker”, FRED GOODWIN who was stripped of his knighthood last week. Maclay Murray & Spens LLP, the Scots based law firm awarded part of a little talked about TWENTY MILLION POUND Scottish Government contract after Scottish Ministers insisted they needed to employ even more lawyers than the 225 already serving Scots politicians, are reported today to be purchasing properties in possible TAX AVOIDANCE DEALS through Glasgow based VINDEX TRUSTEES Ltd a lawyer controlled DORMANT TRUST on behalf of the shamed banker Goodwin whose takeover deals caused the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland and nearly took the UK’s entire economy with it.
Papers obtained by newspapers have revealed the lawyer controlled Glasgow based trust Vindex Trustees Ltd have purchased a £3.1 million mansion home in Edinburgh in a deal which could allow Goodwin TO AVOIDpaying hundreds of thousands of pounds in tax.
Disgraced banker Fred Goodwin is at the centre of a new row over the purchase through a trust of a £3.1 million home – which could allow him to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of pounds in tax.
Experts say the former RBS chief executive, who was last week stripped of his knighthood, may be exploiting a legal loophole that is often used to avoid stamp duty or reduce inheritance tax. Official documents reveal that the six-bedroom mansion in Edinburgh is owned by Vindex Trustees Ltd, which is controlled by a law firm. There is no mortgage listed for the property, suggesting it was bought for cash.
One expert said such a trust arrangement could be used by a wealthy individual to reduce the amount of inheritance tax his family had to pay after his death. Under this scheme, the home owner lends a trust the money to buy the house, and then arranges for the trust to repay the original loan to his children. When the loan is repaid, the children do not have to pay inheritance tax on the sum, which could be as much as £1.2 million on a £3.1 million property.
VINDEX TRUSTEES LIMITED Company Number SC026895 Registered Office 1 GEORGE SQUARE GLASGOW UNITED KINGDOM G2 1AL Company Origin United Kingdom, Scotland, Glasgow,Company Status Active Company Type PRI/LTD BY GUAR/NSC (Private, limited by guarantee, no share capital) Incorporation Date 12/03/1949, Nature of Business 7499 - Non-trading company Accounting Reference Date 31/05,Last Accounts Made Up To 31/05/2010 (DORMANT) Next Accounts Due 29/02/2012,Last Return Made Up To 08/10/2010,Next Return Due 05/11/2011
MacLay Murray & Spens LLP, who are identified as controllers of Vindex Trustees Ltd in documents obtained online, were taken on by the Scottish Government in an unprecedented round of massive legal contracts awarded to private law firms last year totalling TWENTY MILLION POUNDS, even though the Scottish Government already has well over TWO HUNDRED LAWYERS working for it in-house, at well over TEN MILLION POUNDS cost to taxpayers.
The full list of law firms who won the tenders to provide extra legal advice to the Scottish Government are :
Contract, commercial and corporate – Dundas & Wilson CS; DLA Piper Scotland; Morton Fraser; MacRoberts; Pinsent Masons
Litigation, inquiries and employment: Anderson Strathern; Brodies; DLA Piper Scotland; Ledingham Chalmers; Morton Fraser
Major projects: Biggart Baillie; Dundas & Wilson CS; DLA Piper Scotland; MacRoberts; Pinsent Masons Property: Harper Macleod; DLA Piper Scotland; Ledingham Chalmers; McGrigors; Morton Fraser
The Scottish Government’s tender for the intake of law firms at vast taxpayer’s expense can be viewed online here : CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE £20 Million for a panel of law firms for four years although many of the web links contained within the tender which link back to the Scottish Government's website go to non-existent pages.
A more detailed report along with revelations many of the law firms who won contracts with the Scottish Government had also been involved in offering hospitality to Scottish Government officials & Civil Servants, was published after an investigation by popular Scots law blog ‘Diary of Injustice’, HERE
BBC News reported First Minister Alex Salmond said last week he ‘regretted’ supporting Goodwin in the past, however there was no one at the Scottish Government to respond to questions on why Scottish Ministers should be awarding law firms who are dealing in potential tax avoidance schemes huge public funded contracts. Mr Goodwin was also not available for comment.
The Financial Standards Agency has launched an investigation into the taxpayer funded bailouts of Scotland’s collapsed banks – the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.
A FORMAL investigation is to be conducted into last year's government rescues of Scotland's top banks.
The Financial Standards Agency (FSA) has asked four major audit firms to make bids to help compile a report on bail-outs of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) last year.
The investigation, which will be led by FSA officials, is expected to examine risk management undertaken by banks, and whether shareholders and board members were given enough information.
Whoever is selected from Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers would assist with the inquiry.
More than one could become involved as some have close links to the organisations they would be investigating.
Deloitte is auditor to RBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers acts in the same role for Lloyds.
Although there is no indication the City regulator wants to lay the blame for wrongdoing at the feet of directors, their competence leading up to the crises will be scrutinised.
It is understood the Treasury has been informed and the investigation could begin in a matter of weeks.
Rights issues undertaken by the two Scottish banks, as well as the building society Bradford & Bingley, are also likely to be closely scrutinised.
RBS was given an initial £20 billion bail-out from the taxpayer last year. In order to allow Lloyds TSB to take over struggling HBOS, the government had to exempt them from competition rules, and then invest billions of pounds of public cash in the new struggling banking group. Other issues, such as the pension awarded to Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of RBS, are not expected to be covered by the report.
Sir Fred has courted controversy by refusing to hand back any of his £16 million pension.
His Edinburgh home was attacked by protesters angry at the former bank chief's payout, awarded despite him being at the helm when the bank ran into difficulties.
Lawyers have already been engaged by the new RBS chairman, Sir Philip Hampton, to try to claw back some of the retirement payout.
The FSA has no plans to announce the investigation formally and would not comment.
Meanwhile, pension deficits at RBS and Lloyds have soared to more than £18 billion.
A report by retirement consultants Hymans Robertson said RBS's deficit had risen from £8 billion to £12.3 billion in the past three months.
Lloyds has also registered a £6.2 billion shortfall in funding for its occupational final-salary scheme. Low interest rates and inflation are likely to exacerbate the problem still further.
Several large firms are looking to cut the cost of pension schemes or have asked staff to match contributions.
Aviva, owner of Norwich Union, and insurance broker Aon last week announced plans to ask staff to make larger contributions. The report said it will take far longer than previous estimates for finance companies to fill funding gaps as their deficits grow.
Up to 24,000 jobs could be lost as the global recession bites deep into Scotland’s financial services industry, says a survey conducted for Scottish Enterprise.
More than 24,000 financial sector jobs could be lost over the next two years as Scotland struggles through the credit crunch, according to new research.
A study, by senior economists at DTZ, for Scottish Enterprise states the losses in the Scottish banking and insurance industry could represent as much as 8% of its workforce.
The analysis suggests there would be 20,000 jobs lost across the financial services industry north of the border in 2009, which includes potential cuts of more than 1000 in Scotland at RBS, and a further 4000 in 2010.
Analysts said the industry is braced for news of job losses at HBOS after it merged with Lloyds TSB last year. HBOS employs about 17,000 people in Scotland and Lloyds TSB has 7200 staff north of the border.
Some in the industry speculated that as many as 10,000 jobs could go from the new company in Scotland.
The predictions come as reports yesterday said Telecoms group BT was poised to axe another 10,000 jobs as part of a redundancy programme expected to be announced next month.
Professor Gabriel Talmain, director of the Centre for Economic and Financial Studies at Glasgow University, said: "The financial sector was one of the mainstays of the Scottish economy, so if jobs go there then it means that more jobs will go elsewhere; it means that property prices are likely to be hit and the services and hospitality industry will be hit hard."
The analysis for Scottish Enterprise looks at potential job losses among the 100,000 employees who work in the traditional financial services sector in Scotland, a further 100,000 who depend directly on them and another 145,000 in the wider business service sector. The study suggests the recovery in jobs could come by 2015 as financial services in Scotland moves quickly.
Scottish Enterprise said it has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Scottish economy. Since 1998 the industry has grown by 96% in Scotland, compared to 84% across the UK sector. The Financial Services Skills Council said it was acting to aid employers during the worst of the cuts.
In an attempt to cut costs, the Royal Bank of Scotland, brought to the brink of near collapse by its former Chief Sir Fred Goodwin, is to sack 9000 employees in what may be the first round of many lay offs.
THE beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday announced it was to axe 9,000 jobs – 4,500 of them in the UK – as part of a move to cut its costs by £2.5 billion in the next three to five years.
This will take total job losses at RBS to 15,000 worldwide since late last year.
Chief executive Stephen Hester said the cuts were necessary to put the bank back on its feet "as soon as practicable".
The union Unite described the announcement as "truly devastating" and said it expected more redundancies at the bank.
It was confirmed yesterday that taxpayers now own more than 70 per cent of RBS – up from 58 per cent – after investors shunned a sale of new shares.
The bank said private sector shareholders had bought only 0.7 per cent of the stock offered, leaving the Treasury to pick up the remaining 16.8 billion new shares, taking the taxpayers' stake to 70.3 per cent.
As it swung the axe again, effectively cutting just under one in 20 jobs in the UK, RBS faced criticism for creating uncertainty among thousands of staff by refusing to specify exactly where the job losses would fall.
It said jobs would go in areas such as document processing, information technology, procurement and bank property – a division known as group manufacturing.
The bank said it would cut jobs in that division by a fifth globally, and union leaders warned they expected Edinburgh and Glasgow to be hard hit as some 5,500 of the 27,000 posts in the UK group manufacturing division were in Scotland.
If the cuts fall proportionately across the UK, this would leave up to 920 people at risk north of the Border.
The bank last year announced record UK corporate losses of £24.1 billion and has been kept afloat by a £20 billion bail-out from the UK government.
The impact of the cuts is likely to be widespread, affecting staff of RBS-owned NatWest as well as the insurance businesses Direct Line and Churchill. RBS said a redeployment programme had already identified 650 vacancies, while a number of workers were expected to leave in the next two years due to natural turnover.
Agency staff will be reduced and efforts will be made to avoid compulsory redundancies.
But Rob MacGregor, Unite's national officer for the finance sector, said: "The news that 4,500 RBS staff in the UK are to lose their jobs is truly devastating."
The job losses come on top of the 2,700 announced in February for RBS's UK division, and Mr MacGregor told The Scotsman: "What we are looking at is a total cost-saving figure of £2.5 billion over the next three to five years.
"From what we can gather, the announcement that has been made for group manufacturing is contributing towards that cost saving but is by no means the full amount they're after. There are further savings to be realised.
"When Stephen Hester was speaking to the media (in February], they came up with a figure of 20,000 global job losses, and he didn't demur from that. This is obviously a significant announcement and we would hope that there wouldn't be many more, but we don't believe this will be the last one."
Graham Birse, chief executive designate of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said it was a "dark day" for the capital, but he added that knowing the extent of the restructuring should help to rebuild confidence.
"Edinburgh has been bracing itself to come to terms with the extent of the job losses that might emerge from this restructuring, and now we know," he said.
RBS's annual report showed the group manufacturing division cost almost £1.2 billion in wages alone last year. It had undergone rapid expansion since 2006, with staffing numbers shooting up from 34,100 to 44,900. RBS has a global workforce of 170,000, including 106,000 in the UK – 16,000 of whom are based in Scotland.
In February, RBS announced a radical restructuring, involving withdrawal from 36 of 54 countries and a one-sixth cut in costs.
Mr Hester said yesterday that he aimed to return RBS to "standalone strength" to allow the government to sell its investment. "To do so, we need to cut our costs, as in all businesses, given the current recession," he said. "Unfortunately, that means taking difficult decisions about jobs as well as taking many other cost-reduction actions.
"We want to be as open and transparent as possible and are announcing these plans at the earliest possible opportunity so that our employees can prepare for the future."
The Conservatives condemned the announcement, noting that it came weeks after Mr Hester's deputy, Gordon Pell, told the Scottish affairs select committee at Westminster that "around 260" jobs would be lost in Scotland as a result of the February decision, and no further losses were imminent. He later said no actual target had been set for job cuts in Scotland, the UK or globally.
MP David Mundell, the shadow Scottish secretary, called on Chancellor Alistair Darling and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy to rein in the bank's "cavalier approach" to job-loss announcements. He said: "RBS has a duty to work out restructuring plans in an orderly manner and to be straight with Scots. Otherwise, it risks making job cuts and announcements that it later comes to regret."
The Treasury said the job losses were a matter for RBS and declined to comment. But Mr Murphy described it as "disappointing news". He said: "I hope that RBS will be able to scale back the number of overall job losses and ensure that compulsory redundancies are avoided."
Finance secretary John Swinney said the bank had assured him compulsory redundancies would be a last resort and added: "I made clear the Scottish Government would work extremely closely with the company to help those affected and minimise the impact in Scotland as far as possible."
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, said: "Ordinary workers are now paying with their jobs for the unsustainable and irresponsible practices of RBS's previous management.
"As he enjoys his multi-million-pound pension, Sir Fred Goodwin should spare a thought for the thousands of people he has now put out of work."
David McLetchie, the Tory MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, said: "This is news that RBS employees will have been dreading. I suspect no-one will be leaving on the same redundancy terms as the government approved for Sir Fred Goodwin."
Isabel Schauerte, a financial analyst, said the government, as a majority shareholder, would have to suffer its share of criticism for the job losses. She said: "While RBS's move further in the direction of full-scale nationalisation hardly comes as a surprise, the job-cut announcement is sure to stir up another wave of public indignation, if not outrage."
Another round of accusations as to who told what to whom and when and who actually took it in or not … this time its back to the Sir Fred Goodwin pension caper, which netted the former RBS boss £703,000 a year pension … despite the bank collapsing around his ears and having to be bailed out by the British taxpayer.
Former RBS chairman Sir Tom McKillop has said City Minister Lord Myners was fully briefed about former chief Sir Fred Goodwin's pension arrangements.
There was no "elaborate ruse" to reward Sir Fred Goodwin, Sir Tom said.
"Each element of the proposed terms of departure" were discussed with Lord Myners, "including the pension", he added.
Lord Myners earlier insisted he had not been involved in negotiating Sir Fred's pension arrangements.
Sir Tom's comments followed Lord Myners' testimony to the Treasury Committee over Sir Fred's £703,000 pension.
Sir Fred left "at the request of the company with his full contractual entitlement" because of the need for a "consensual departure", Sir Tom said in a letter to the Treasury Committee.
'Full disclosure'
Sir Tom said in his letter that the he and Bob Scott, the senior independent director, made a "full disclosure" of Sir Fred's compensation to Lord Myners.
"Mr Scott is certain that he discussed each element of the proposed terms of departure set out in the remuneration paper, including the pension," Sir Tom said.
Lord Myners earlier this month told the Treasury select committee that he did know the value of Sir Fred's pension in October, insisting that he was not privy to "the thinking of the remuneration committee or members of that committee of RBS".
In his letter, Sir Tom said: "I must emphasise that there was no "elaborate ruse" by myself and Mr Scott to give Sir Fred any more than he was contractually entitled to and that we and, I believe, all the directors acted in what we judged to be the best interests of the shareholders, including the Government."
Sir Fred took early retirement from RBS last year after the bank needed a £20bn bailout from the government. The payout has been widely condemned.
Sir Fred's Edinburgh home was attacked by vandals last week.
Now that bankers have joined lawyers as some of the most vilified, hated and disrespected professions around the world, some are starting to wonder if they should ever be forgiven for ruining the global financial markets, not to mention the lives of many ordinary people who are now paying for the way that bankers and their kind ‘ruled the world & lives’ with money which was not theirs … (no, bankers wont be able to get forgiveness from a deservedly angry public – Ed)
By William Lyons, Rosemary Gallagher and Terry Murden
AS THE world's media gathered outside the vandalised stone villa of Sir Fred Goodwin, sympathy for the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland was in short supply. With pictures of his home in Edinburgh's salubrious Grange district being beamed across the globe, one passing man in a waxed jacket suggested the best course of action would be to "burn it to the ground".
Such comments were unthinkable only a year ago when he was announcing record profits at the world's fifth-biggest bank, but the attack on Goodwin's home and the threat of more violence against bankers has been met with a surprising level of tolerance.
Outright condemnation has been matched by a sense of indignation over the way in which bankers – in particular Edinburgh bankers – have been identified as the guilty men who have plunged the country into recession. Some have spoken of "Edinburgh's shame" that the city's big two banks have helped bring Britain to its knees.
It has clearly affected the standing of one of the country's most important professions as public respect has given way to general disgust. Last Friday, as two Scottish bankers walked through Haymarket station, a Big Issue salesman who they brushed past shouted after them: "I may be homeless, but at least I'm not a banker."
The mood is now turning ugly, with serious implications. A group calling itself Bank Bosses Are Criminals claimed responsibility for the attack on Goodwin's home and in a statement to the Edinburgh Evening News said: "This is just the beginning … We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless."
The attack came as protesters plan to hang effigies of Sir Fred and other bankers from lampposts ahead of this week's G20 summit in London. Protest organiser and University of East London anthropology professor Chris Knight warned that "things could get nasty" as public anger with banks boils over.
"We are going to be hanging a lot of people like Fred the Shred from lampposts on April Fool's Day and I can only say let's hope they are just effigies," he said. "They should realise the amount of fury and hatred there is for them and act."
Max Clifford, one of Britain's most influential PR gurus, said: "If I was in his shoes, I would be a very worried man. He is in danger. That man should be genuinely frightened."
At the sprawling £350m Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters on the outskirts of Edinburgh, death threats aimed at the former boss arrive regularly through the post. On the internet T-shirts have gone on sale depicting Goodwin in a gun's crosshairs with the words: "public enemy number one." A picture of Goodwin enjoying himself has shot to number one on many freelance photographers' wish lists. It would fetch around £100,000.
Goodwin is understood to have fled the country. His exact whereabouts are unknown with reported sightings in the south of France, mainland Spain or Mallorca. He was last seen boarding a budget airline from Edinburgh to Nice with his wife and two children more than 10 days ago. According to one onlooker he checked in wearing dark glasses and sat in the departure lounge away from most people. Meanwhile his children have been taken out of their private school for their own protection after being bullied over their father's disgrace. His wife Joyce is understood to have been shouted at in the street.
The crisis is causing rising tensions across Europe. In France last week, workers burned tyres, marched on the presidential palace and held the manager of a US manufacturer hostage in the latest protests against job losses and executive payouts. In the US there have been protests outside the homes of executives of bailed-out insurance giant AIG.
While security is stepped up and all bankers feel a collective sense of guilt about leading the world into recession, those who believe Edinburgh has suffered a public beating are attempting to rebuild confidence. There are moves to restore the city's pride and battered reputation with a multi-million-pound initiative and a drive to deliver the message that a city famed throughout the world for its careful management of money can be restored to health.
But first it has to cope with almost daily reminders of its failings, not least its unwanted booby prize as home to the company that recorded the biggest loss in British corporate history.
When Goodwin was helping RBS post record profits, turning a provincial bank into a global powerhouse, the world lined up to shake his hand. Forbes, which once named him Global Businessman of the Year, has subsequently retitled him the world's worst banker.
With HBOS also being forced into a merger to save it from going bust, 2008 turned into an annus horribilis for Edinburgh banking. The city that was once home to Adam Smith – author of The Wealth Of Nations, the first modern treatise on economics – built an economy and a global reputation on financial services. But with its two major banks lying in ruins, many are now asking whether the financial crisis leaves Edinburgh's status in tatters. "The world has fallen off a cliff," said Ian Jones, executive chairman of the independent Edinburgh-based merchant bank Quayle Munro. "We are still picking up the pieces."
Publicly, the City's financial community is pulling together to argue that the Scots are resilient and will learn from mistakes and turn it around. But privately it is a different matter. Many claim the reputation of the city has been permanently damaged. They talk about the embarrassment of being associated with two failed banks and point to the chaos surrounding the ongoing tramworks as symbolic of the difficulties facing it. Aware of the deep public disgust towards Goodwin and Andy Hornby, his counterpart at HBOS, many in the banking sector feel decidedly uncomfortable.
"It is a bit difficult to maintain a reputation as a traditional high-probity country when your biggest bank, which is the fifth-largest bank in the world, goes spectacularly bust, is bought by the Government for a song and then hands its failed chief executive a £20m payoff," said one Scottish economist. "I feel a little embarrassed to be Scottish."
Another director of an Edinburgh brokerage said: "We do a lot of business in Bahrain, and Scotland – Edinburgh in particular – had always been a big selling point as we were highly regarded and respected. The city's reputation abroad has been tarnished by the likes of RBS."
Graham Bell, of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, agrees: "The traditional reliance on Scots as good financiers has been dented because two of the major banks that have collapsed have Scotland in their title, and although they are big international companies they are regarded as Scottish products."
On Friday, Chancellor Alistair Darling urged the banks to clear their balance sheets in a bid to regain public trust against an anti-banking backlash, echoing comments earlier this month by Ian Luder, the new Lord Mayor of London, who told a meeting of Scottish Financial Enterprise that there was a need to end "banker bashing".
But their comments arguably add to the growing sense that the banking sector has been irreparably damaged and may even incite further reaction.
Now Edinburgh is preparing to fight back. In the next few weeks the city council will launch an Economic Resilience Action Plan designed to revive the city's flagging fortunes. It will be backed by a 25% increase in the economic development budget, with contributions from Europe bringing the total to £8m, the highest it has been.
In sectors barely touched by the crisis, such as fund management, an industry that manages £580bn of funds directly from Scotland, the mood is refreshingly upbeat. "I simply don't agree with the suggestion that Edinburgh is in some way 'damaged goods' following the banking crisis," said one London-based commercial lawyer. James Will, of Shepherd & Wedderburn, said: "The financial services industry in Scotland is not just about banks.
Scots are resilient, will learn lessons and will refocus on traditional values of prudence and innovation. With such traditional values – and ability to adapt – engrained in our heritage, Edinburgh should find it easier than perhaps many other financial centres worldwide to make the changes necessary to compete effectively in the new environment."
Others, such as Tom Miers, an independent public policy consultant, argue that more important to Edinburgh's economic success is not a reputation for financial prudence but the quality of life in the city. "It is more important for the council to build beautiful buildings than to meddle with the financial sector, which will take care of itself on the basis of the quality of its product."
Colin McLean, the fund manager who sounded the alarm over HBOS and RBS a year before their demise, remains sanguine. In his office overlooking Princes Street, the managing director of SVM Asset Management argues that most of his clients recognise the banking problem is distinct.
"It's not a helpful thing for Edinburgh," he says, "but given there have been banking problems in Switzerland and in other financial centres I don't think anyone comes out of it very well."
It is a view echoed by Bryan Johnston, director with private client investment manager Brewin Dolphin. "Specifically Edinburgh is no more caught up than anywhere else," he says. "Obviously what has happened to the banks is a tragedy and is disappointing, but it is not unique to Edinburgh, nor unfortunately to the UK. Things go wrong – the trick is how you deal with it." Sir Fred Goodwin would be advised to take note.
Despite the almost collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, due to the bad decision making by the board and its advisers, Deloitte, the auditor to the RBS has received £58.8million, a rise of £27.4million on the previous year …
Sounds a bit odd, yes ? Auditors of a collapsed bank receiving a massive hike in fees while the British taxpayer is forced to bail out the bank ? (yes, very odd … money for old rope & a banking failure ? – Ed)
THE auditor of Royal Bank of Scotland received a £27.4m hike in its fees in the year in which the UK taxpayer had to rescue the Edinburgh institution from collapse.
The jump in fees paid by Royal to accountancy firm Deloitte, from £31.4m in 2007 to £58.8m last year, was revealed with publication of the bank's annual report yesterday.
The annual report also shows that Deloitte, which signed off RBS's 2008 accounts as giving a "true and fair view" and did not qualify its audit opinion in any way, will be proposed for reappointment as auditor at the bank's annual shareholder meeting on April 3.
Deloitte's fees for auditing RBS more than doubled from £17m to £38.6m, with this hike reflecting the accountancy firm adding to its audit work the parts of ABN Amro acquired by the Scottish bank in an ill-fated bid in 2007. Deloitte received additional fees of £20.1m from Royal for other services - up 41.5% on 2007.
In their report on the accounts, Royal's directors justify the preparation of the bank's accounts on a going-concern basis by setting out their "reasonable expectation...that the group...will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future". They cite the government's backing.
The government took a 57.9% stake in RBS last year, and this is poised to rise to about 70.4% with the conversion of Preference stock into Ordinary shares.
The transfer value of former Royal chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin's pension pot nearly doubled from £8.37m to £16.63m during 2008 alone because of the bank's decision to let him retire at 50 on an undiscounted pension.
Goodwin's pension of £703,000-a-year has incurred the wrath of the public.
Last night, RBS faced another row when its 2008 report confirmed that ex-director Larry Fish retired from the bank on a £1.6m annual pension - the biggest received by a company employee in UK corporate history.
Mr Fish, 64, who stepped down last April after being the head of the bank's US operation, saw his pension pot rise from £17.5m in 2007 to £19.6m in 2008.
The report also confirmed that Johnny Cameron, who retired from Royal two weeks ago, saw his pension pot rise from £931,000 to £1.4m.
The former Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive Sir Fred Goodwin re-enters the headlines as his Edinburgh home & car were vandalised in the early hours of today.
Television news reported not much sympathy for the stricken ex bank boss who led one of Scotland’s greatest financial instructions to near ruin, resulting in a multi billion pound bail out by the British taxpayer to save the Royal Bank from certain collapse.
Sir Fred was reported to have been 'shaken' at the news of the attack on his home. Anyone with information relating to the attack on the property is of course, encouraged to contact Lothian & Borders Police ...
Reports of the attack on Sir Fred’s Edinburgh residence :
The home of former bank boss Sir Fred Goodwin has been attacked by vandals.
Windows were smashed at the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive's villa in Edinburgh.
The windows of a Mercedes S600, parked in the driveway, were also smashed in the attack on the house in Morningside early this morning.
It is understood Lothian and Borders police are investigating a report of vandalism.
Sir Fred has been at the centre of huge controversy about his £700,000 pension.
It is not known if anyone was in the house at the time of the attack or who reported the vandalism.
A police car stood guard today outside Sir Fred's home in the upmarket area of the city.
Three smashed ground-floor windows of the stone villa were clearly visible.
In the driveway, the rear window of a dark-coloured Mercedes S600 saloon was smashed, as well as the nearside rear passenger window.
There were no obvious signs of activity inside the house.
A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm we attended at an address in Morningside around 4.35am today.
"Inquiries in relation to the incident are ongoing. We are appealing for witnesses."
It has been reported that RBS continued to pay for personal security for Sir Fred following his departure, including CCTV monitoring of his home.
An RBS spokesman said today: "We are aware of the incident but it is a matter for police.
"There are security arrangements in place for Sir Fred, as is normal practice for departing executives.
"As we've said before, they will be reviewed in the coming months."
He would not comment on whether security measures were in place at the time of the vandalism.
Sir Fred has been subject to heavy criticism after refusing to give up any of his £700,000-a-year pension.
The former RBS chief executive, who stepped down from the post last October, rejected Government pressure to accept a reduction in his package, insisting that changes to the early retirement deal he negotiated when he was forced out in the autumn were "not warranted".
The massive payout was branded "obscene" and "grotesque" by MPs and "unjustifiable and unacceptable" by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Earlier this month, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said the Government was taking "all steps" to challenge the enforceability of his pension contract.
Dubbed "Fred the Shred" for his ruthless cost-cutting, Sir Fred boasted of catapulting RBS "to the top of the premier league" with a £49 billion deal to capture Dutch rival ABN Amro in 2007.
But the acquisition proved disastrous for RBS as the credit crunch gripped markets - exposing the bank's weak balance sheet and bringing the firm to the brink of collapse.
RBS is now nearly 70%-owned by the taxpayer after a £20 billion bailout.
Last month the bank unveiled a record £24.1 billion loss and plans to raise up to £25.5 billion from the taxpayer.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she was unaware of the damage until she walked past the house.
"I'm surprised that nothing has happened sooner as there has been so much publicity," she said.
"I feel sorry for his family but I think people's emotions are running very high in today's environment.
"Like it or not, we are in a blame society and are always looking for someone to blame."
Another neighbour said: "It is shocking, that is totally unnecessary - absolutely shocking. Nobody deserves that."
Two scenes of crime experts from the Scottish Police Services Authority arrived at Sir Fred's home at 9am to inspect the damage.
They spent 20 minutes photographing the broken windows, the ground beneath them and collecting some fragments.
They also photographed the damage to the Mercedes.
After 20 minutes they were joined by two CID officers.
Another man later arrived to measure up the broken double-glazed windows.
Another of Sir Fred's neighbours said the attack on his house was wrong but she had little sympathy for him.
The woman, who gave her first name as Deirdre, said: "Sympathy? Exactly the opposite.
"If I was him I would have refused to have all this money and I would be mortified at what had happened to the bank.
"I think it's wrong, but I can understand if you lose your job and everything and your ex-boss caused a problem. He is getting millions which he doesn't need.
"If I was him I would take virtually no money and I would try to support more people in jobs."
She said she had not seen Sir Fred. "He was a bit of a nuisance when he had security guards around and so on but as far as we were concerned we didn't have anything to do with him and he was perfectly harmless."
A statement was issued to media organisations shortly after the attack on Sir Fred's home.
It said: "We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless.
"This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning."
and as if that wasn’t enough for Sir Fred, it seems a group may have it in for bankers, as email statements floating round the media indicate :
An emailed statement warned today of further attacks on bankers after the home of former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin was damaged by vandals.
Windows were smashed at the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive's house in Edinburgh overnight.
The windows of a Mercedes S600, parked in the driveway, were also smashed.
A statement issued to media organisations shortly after the attack on Sir Fred's house said: "We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless.
"Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning."
The email, sent in the early hours of the morning to a number of outlets including the Press Association, came from the address bankbossesarecriminalsmail.com.
No group was named in the message and it did not explicitly claim responsibility for the attack.
There was a notable police presence this morning at Sir Fred's home in the upmarket Morningside area of the city.
A police car with two uniformed officers stood guard outside.
Scenes of crime specialists were inspecting the damage to the ground-floor windows and the car.
They were later joined by two CID officers, and a man arrived to measure the broken double-glazed windows.
Sir Fred - dubbed "Fred the Shred" for his ruthless cost-cutting - has been at the centre of controversy over his £700,000-a-year pension.
He took early retirement after RBS almost collapsed as the credit crunch gripped markets.
It is not known if anyone was in the house at the time of the attack, or who reported the vandalism.
But it is thought that Sir Fred and his family have not been living in the house since the pension row erupted.
A spokesman for the banker said he will not be commenting on the attack.
A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm we attended at an address in Morningside around 4.35am today. Inquiries in relation to the incident are ongoing. We are appealing for witnesses."
It has been reported that RBS continued to pay for personal security for Sir Fred following his departure from the bank, including CCTV monitoring of his home.
An RBS spokesman said today: "We are aware of the incident but it is a matter for police. There are security arrangements in place for Sir Fred, as is normal practice for departing executives."
The car was later towed away from Sir Fred's home. The damage to the rear windscreen was clearly visible and there were smaller cracks on one of the side windows and front windscreen.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "I'm surprised that nothing has happened sooner as there has been so much publicity.
"I feel sorry for his family but I think people's emotions are running very high in today's environment.
"Like it or not, we are in a blame society and are always looking for someone to blame."
Another neighbour said: "It is shocking, that is totally unnecessary - absolutely shocking. Nobody deserves that."
Asked if the Prime Minister had sympathy for Sir Fred, a No 10 spokesman said: "On the specific question of damage to his property, there can be no excuse for it at all."
Jim Monaghan, of Tommy Sheridan's Solidarity party, said: "I am not arguing it is right to do this but people are starting to pay the price for the mistakes of those like Sir Fred Goodwin. Anger is growing."
He also questioned whether the police presence would have been as heavy if the incident had happened in a less upmarket area.
"If you lived in a less affluent area, I think you may not have seen the police until later this week," he said.
What a happy bunch of people the Royal Bank of Scotland board members must have been, as allegations of bullying of non-executive board members is revealed by Labour MSP Lord Foulkes.
Sounds a bit like some of the goings on at other institutions in Scotland we could name …
The Royal Bank of Scotland last night denied there was any evidence that its non-executive board members were bullied into silence over its risky business ventures, as the beleaguered institution was hit by another series of damaging claims.
Lord Foulkes, the Labour MSP and former Scotland Office minister, raised concerns after being briefed by ex-RBS insiders. They said non-executive directors faced "intimidation" about asking searching questions about the bank's activities, for fear they might not be reappointed.
He suggested that if this was true, it could lead to criminal prosecution.
The peer has also asked Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to investigate whether the bank made "knowingly false statements", which could have led potential investors to believe RBS's position was more favourable than it was.
The City of London watchdog said it would look into the issues raised by the former minister.
However, a spokeswoman for the Edinburgh-based bank told The Herald it was "not aware of any evidence to support" the claim of intimidation and no non-executive director past or present had raised the issue with the company or the FSA.
She said if Lord Foulkes had any evidence to support the assertion, "it would be in the interests of all parties if he shared it".
The spokeswoman added: "The new management team and everyone at RBS is fully focused on fixing the company's problems and returning RBS to standalone strength. Only then will we be in a position to repay the support of the taxpayer and all our shareholders."
Meantime, a call was made for RBS to stop further pension payments to Sir Fred Goodwin, its former chief executive, after an ex-employee's claims pointed to "a shocking culture of extravagance and greed at RBS at the expense of savers and shareholders".
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, has written to Chancellor Alistair Darling, and Lord Turner, demanding an immediate halt to payments from Sir Fred's £703,000-a-year pension.
The whistleblower claims the lobby outside Sir Fred's office was redecorated with £1000-a-roll wallpaper, £100,000 was spent on part-time chauffeurs and £5.3m was spent refurbishing a grade-A listed building in Edinburgh for Sir Fred's hospitality use.
Lord Oakeshott, the LibDem Treasury spokesman in the Lords, said: "It looks like the Court of King Fred the First of Scotland with directors and auditors as well-fed lapdogs around the throne."
In a separate development, the UK Government was reported to be planning a £60m bailout of Dunfermline Building Society, one of Scotland's oldest, amid fears it is poised to reveal huge losses, RBS, which in January posted a £24bn loss for 2008, the biggest in UK corporate history, faces another £500m loss through exposure to Cattles, the troubled loans firm.
At Westminster, the Conservatives said the Prime Minister's appointment of Lord Myners, already under fire over Sir Fred's pension, was "fast turning from an embarrassing appointment to a serious liability".
The city minister, tasked by Gordon Brown with clamping down on corporate tax avoidance, was facing questions about a property business he set up in the tax haven of Bermuda.
Lord Myners reportedly earned nearly £200,000 in a year as chairman of Aspen Insurance Holdings. He insisted he had "no continuing interest in or income from" the company.
Richard Keen QC, the current Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, has come out in favour of scrapping Scotland’s infamous restrictions on Class Action lawsuits.
The Dean, however, only seems to feel Class Actions should be allowed against Banks & financial institutions … which seems to indicate the cosy relationship between the legal profession and the Banking sector has hit the rocks … no more cheap finance lads ? – Ed
Published Date: 26 January 2009 By Jane Bradley and John Forsyth
ONE of Scotland's most senior lawyers is calling for ministers to scrap the restriction banning class actions in Scots law, a move that could see a wave of claims against banks.
The suggestion by Richard Keen, QC, the dean of the Faculty of Advocates, would open up the prospect of challenges by groups of shareholders against financial institutions over a lack of information about the state of their business.
It is understood that Scotland's legal profession believes there could be a raft of actions against Royal Bank of Scotland and other financial institutions on the basis that the information given out at the time of rights issues had been inadequate.
Mr Keen said: "The absence of class action certification inhibits pursuit of remedy. It is difficult to fund major litigation of that kind unless you can put together a class action."
Mr Keen's comments follow a string of calls from politicians demanding legal and political action to tackle the crisis – with RBS most in the firing line. Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said yesterday that he believed a parliamentary inquiry should be carried out into the banking crisis in Scotland.
He said any investigation should cover the Financial Services Authority and the role of politicians in overseeing the administration of the financial sector "to ask them why they were asleep on the job".
He said: "I'd rather favour a parliamentary investigation, not just into the Royal Bank of Scotland – that would be daft, as the Royal Bank of Scotland is only one of hundreds of banks worldwide which has got into serious trouble – but into the financial sector."
It emerged at the weekend that Christine Grahame, an SNP MSP, has written to Lothian and Borders Police, demanding that an investigation be carried out into RBS's conduct over its two rights issues last year, while Tavish Scott, MSP, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has called for an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
Under the leadership of Sir Fred Goodwin, RBS carried out its first £12 billion rights issue in April last year, when thousands of investors forked out £2 a share for a tranche of new stock in the firm. A second rights issue, in November, was shunned by investors and the government had to underwrite the £15 billion issue. RBS's fortunes have nosedived in recent months, with investors watching shares plummet, to close at 12.1p on Friday.
Mrs Grahame's letter told police she believed RBS "appeared to have committed a fraud".
RBS revealed last week it was on course for the biggest loss in UK corporate history, as it expected to write down as much as £20 billion on the falling value of its assets.
Mr Scott said: "I think the banks across the UK must have known what their financial position was much earlier than they were letting on, and that particularly applies to RBS.
"At the time they were asking investors for more money to help their financial position, as RBS giving a full picture of how strong or weak they were as a financial institution? I genuinely don't know, but I believe that the Serious Fraud Office should have a look at it."
He warned that a political inquiry could turn the crisis into a partisan issue and could detract from solving the question of whether investors were misled.
Just last week, the veteran lawyer Ian Hamilton lodged a small-claims action against RBS, saying he had been persuaded to buy 640 shares at the £2 offer price in its 2008 rights issue.
Goodness gracious me .. the former Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland, Douglas Mill, himself known for ruining Scotland’s once proud legal profession, who now find themselves regarded lower than pedophiles & rapists, comes out of the retired woodwork to defend his University friend Sir Fred Goodwin, who didn’t do much better for the Royal Bank of Scotland in the end …
Peter Cherbi’s “Diary of Injustice in Scotland” reports :
The Royal Bank of Scotland's failure, which has led to the bank effectively being nationalised by the UK Government to save it, and save its customers, was nothing to do with either Sir Fred Goodwin or the Bank's 'takeover too far' of the Dutch Bank ABN Amro, so says Douglas Mill, former Law Society Chief Executive and school friend of Sir Fred Goodwin.
Douglas Mill - it wasn't the Bank or Sir Fred’s fault, it was the lack of governance & control !
Douglas Mill, said in a BBC Scotland interview, which highlighted the alleged failures of Sir Fred Goodwin, whom some newspapers have dubbed "The World's worst banker" :"Well scapegoating is the right expression.".
Douglas Mill would know all about scapegoating, and how to avoid it, as he did for around eleven years as Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland, who interfered & intervened in just about any case involving crooked lawyers which had the possibility to bring changes to the way solicitors were regulated by the Law Society.
Douglas Mill, staggeringly went on in the interview to blame the Royal Bank of Scotland's huge losses & failures on the financial markets on poor regulation of the Banking sector !
Douglas Mill went on in usual form : "The real failures here are failures of financial services regulation and that extends beyond the Royal Bank.
The real failures here are failures of lack of governance and lack of control in the whole banking sector not just the Royal Bank again its easy to be wise after the event but scapegoating Fred isn't going to address the problems here."
An amazing outburst indeed, from Mr Mill, who tirelessly campaigned against any strengthening of regulation against the legal sector in Scotland, and whose aims to prevent consumers being protected by increased safeguards & independent regulation of Scottish legal services are still being carried out today by the present Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, who himself said on video in the past, he would also protect lawyers from anything or anyone …
Indeed, it was, as you will all recall, Douglas Mill who infamously once threatened the Scottish Parliament and the previous Scottish Government with legal action if legislation was passed in the Scottish Parliament to protect consumers and strengthen regulation against Scottish solicitors.
Douglas Mill threatens to sue Parliament & Govt : ‘Holyrood in Solicitors’ sights by Ian Fraser
We must also not forget this is the same Douglas Mill who famously scrapped with John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, in front of Holyrood's Justice 2 Committee, where Mr Swinney, then in opposition, exposed the secret memos of Mill himself which eventually led to the end of Mill's career at the Law Society after the video coverage of the event was posted to You Tube.
In the memos, it was revealed by John Swinney that Douglas Mill had been, and was still engaged in a bitter & protracted campaign against some of Mr Swinney's constituents to prevent them from obtaining access to legal services and financial settlements in long running claims against several of Scotland leading legal firms, which Mr Mill, and the Law Society's insurers Marsh UK, intended to delay and destroy at any cost.
It is worth noting that every single claim and complaint against 'crooked lawyers' which the now discredited ex-Law Society Chief Douglas Mill personally intervened in, ultimately failed to be resolved, and the particular case which Mr Swinney raised before the Justice 2 Committee along with Mill's own memos, also remains unresolved and without settlement.
Career ending video : Douglas Mill contradicts his own secret memos released by John Swinney during Justice Committee investigation
You may all be wondering why someone such as Douglas Mill may blame a lack of regulation of the banking sector as the cause of its catastrophic failure ?
Well, wonder no longer, as the banking sector, such as it used to be, went hand in hand with the legal sector, gaining billions of pounds of business & finance in Scotland from solicitors who themselves used clients funds and a myriad of other less than open financial deals with the banks, using clients money to gain personal finance deals and deals for their legal firms on spectacularly low interest rates which ordinary consumers had to prop up through exhorbitant costs of poor legal services and thousands of cases of lost clients funds each year which the Law Society under Douglas Mill did nothing about.
Interestingly, the same failures of regulation which Douglas Mill claims let down his friend, Sir Fred Goodwin, were the same kinds of regulation Mill actually fought against being implemented on the Law Society of Scotland, such as in the case where Douglas Mill claimed in an interview with Business Journalist Ian Fraser, that the Financial Services Authority would not allow any independent oversight of such things as the infamously corrupt Indemnity Insurance arrangements for Scottish solicitors known as the "Master Policy" which has led to some of the worst cases of corruption involving insurance in Scotland for decades.
Perhaps what we learn from this story is that the banking world and legal world do tend to go hand in hand, when it comes to business, and scandals …. so both worlds need a fairly strong dose of independent regulation with effective policing of their activities, rather than the hands off approach which Mill and his kind have preferred over the years.
Mr MacAskill – adjust your policies accordingly, or step aside for someone who can protect the public, rather than simply protect the professions …
The Royal Bank of Scotland, it is reported by the Herald newspaper, has delayed production of key evidence in a case against the Bank claiming a needless loss of over £10m …
Two self-made millionaires were furious yesterday after Scotland's largest bank continued to delay producing crucial evidence which it claims proves it was authorised to leave them penniless.
Edmund Keane and Jimmy Jones are arguing that the Royal Bank of Scotland had no right to use their life savings to set off debts on accounts set up secretly in their names by Keane's brother, the former Celtic director and RBS bank manager Dominic Keane.
Yesterday at the Court of Session in Edinburgh the bank requested another six weeks to examine the "numerous" hidden accounts and produce documentation which it claims shows that Dominic Keane instructed it to act as it had done.
The request was agreed by Lord Angus Glennie on condition that the bank agreed to a call from the two men's lawyer for it to supply all documents relating to instructions given by Dominic Keane for the opening of and making of debit entries for the first two years of all the relevant accounts.
The order follows a three-and-a-half year battle by the two men who are suing RBS over claims that it lost their £10m fortune and left them several million pounds in debt.
Both of them had agreed to grant power of attorney to Dominic Keane in 1990 when they moved overseas after selling off their carpet empire Colonel Gees.
But neither of them had any idea that all their money had gone until 2005 when a cheque for Mr Jones's sons' private school fees suddenly bounced and Edmund Keane received a letter telling him he was more than £2.5m in debt.
Yesterday's order came the day after it emerged that Dominic Keane is accused of using the concealed accounts to carry out a 13-year multi-million-pound fraud.
Michael Jones QC, lawyer for the two men, the pursuers in the case, attacked the bank during yesterday's hearing for continually failing to provide proof that the instructions existed despite repeated requests by the pair's legal team.
He said: "They RBS have had three-and-a-half years to investigate their position on this."
Later he added: "We're talking about two pursuers'...life savings."
The bank had claimed that the power of attorney agreements provided "sufficient authorisation" for it to use the men's fortunes to set off debts on the unknown accounts without telling them.
At court earlier this week RBS revealed that it had also received specific instructions from Dominic Keane, prompting Lord Glennie to rule that it must now provide proof of that for the two men.
Paul Cullen QC, acting for RBS, requested the six week time period yesterday after explaining that it would take a considerable amount of time to examine the "hundreds" of debit entries on the numerous accounts.
Quizzed by the judge he confessed that he didn't have a "complete understanding" of the "nature or detail" of all the documents or what was involved in going through them.
But he said: "Much of the information is likely to be of an entirely routine, daily nature. It is a little difficult to say what will entail getting proof."
After the hearing a source close to the men told The Herald: "Three-and-a-half years after sending a letter to Edmund saying that all his money had gone and that he now owed about £2.5m, and after bouncing Jimmy's school fees cheque, the bank are still not willing to provide the information that they say shows that Dominic Keane gave them instructions to authorise these transactions.
"This was these men's life savings but the bank is still saying it would be too time-consuming to trawl through files to find evidence of instructions from Dominic Keane. Meanwhile Edmund Keane and Jimmy Jones are penniless. They are really angry."
The case will be continued at a preliminary hearing to be held in October.
Oh dear, what will some legal firms be telling their clients who ask "How much did you make on taking our money to that bank ?" .... might have been better to let clients in on the secret a long time ago ... now it all looks distinctly fishy !
The Office of Fair Trading conducted a series of dawn raids at offices of Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) yesterday as part of an investigation into price-fixing on loans to lawyers and accountancy firms.
The competition watchdog, which is already investigating price-fixing in several industries including supermarkets and tobacco, said the inquiry was focused on a sub-section of the business banking market that lends to professional services groups.
Between them, RBS and Barclays have a 70 per cent share of the professional services banking market.
The investigation and raids followed a voluntary approach to the OFT by Barclays on concerns that staff in its professional services banking group “had been approached from outside...in an inappropriate manner”.
The approach, known as a leniency application, is significant because the party that first informs the regulator can secure immunity from any subsequent penalties. Virgin Atlantic avoided a fine for price-fixing on fuel surcharges after informing the OFT that it had been operating a cartel with British Airways, which was later fined £121 million.
The OFT said that its investigation was at an early stage and declined to comment on possible penalties. It has the power to fine businesses up to 15 per cent of the annual turnover of the relevant business area. However, if the regulator believes this amount is too small, it can impose a fine of up to 0.75 per cent of group turnover. RBS’s global turnover was £29 billion last year, which could lead to a maximum fine of £218 million.
The OFT said its investigation had a narrow focus and was limited to Barclays and RBS but news of the raid prompted speculation as to which bank or business area might be next.
Although it is fighting a long-running legal battle with Britain’s banks over what it believes to be unfair overdraft charges on current accounts, the OFT has rarely turned the spotlight on the banking sector.
John Pheasant, a competition partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, said: “The investigation shows the OFT is prepared to take on the financial services industry. It would be surprising if this is the last visit it pays to UK banks.”
