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THE scene was like that of a Jacobite conspiracy
Author
- Sunday Herald
Date Created
- 15 Jan 2009
Date Edited
- 15 Jan 2009 03:19:18 AM
License
This work is in the public domain.
THE SCENE was like that of a Jacobite conspiracy. Around 20 Scots from different walks of life - bankers, lawyers, architects, business people and journalists - came together in the candlelit splendour of Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms. They were there to mourn the passing of a 300-year-old institution - the Bank of Scotland - and to appease the ghosts of Scottish bankers' past.
A wake for HBOS... and the birth of a new era?
A wake for HBOS... and the birth of a new era?
By Ian Fraser
January 15, 2009
Proceedings were more decorous than the (temporary) title, "the Voodoo Group", suggests. Economist Robert McDowell, for example, read a poem comparing the collapse of the Scottish banking sector to the Hanoverian victory at Culloden.
But this was no nostalgia-fest. Club members were there to discuss how the banks can regain the trust of the public.
As one member of the group pronounced: "Trust cannot be recreated without a change in culture and a rediscovery of the values that distinguished Scottish banking. That requires a critical rethink of the forces that drove banking straight into the wall over recent years."
The group - which will formalise itself shortly - wants Scotland to get the banks it deserves, and was determinedly upbeat about the future. As one attendee put it: "This was more of an awakening than a wake." He also said that he believes a last-ditch chance remains that the Court of Session can be persuaded against approving the Scheme of Arrangement that will permit Lloyds's takeover of HBOS. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.
One idea floated at the event was that the group should monitor the activities of Lloyds Banking Group - the new name for the merged HBOS/Lloyds TSB - to ensure it keeps its pledges. It could also monitor whether the new-minted oligopoly behaves as a responsible corporate citizen north of the Border, and headquarters insurance and fund management activities in Edinburgh.
Another proposal was that the group act as watchdog on bank competition north of the Border, particularly as the government, effectively owner of both Lloyds Banking Group and RBS, now has a near-monopoly.
Dark threats were heard of class actions against the two leading Scottish banks for allegedly misleading investors, customers and staff prior to launching rights issues in April. There was also talk of how the government allegedly "corralled" asset management groups and life insurers, including Standard Life, into rubbishing attempts by Sir George Mathewson and Sir Peter Burt to oust HBOS's management.
Among the conspirators were members of the Merger Action Group, which last year tried to derail Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS. They included investment banker Tim Noble, solicitors Robert Bertram and Walter Semple, corporate financier Peter de Vink, online bank founder Jim Spowart, economist Robert McDowell, architect Malcolm Fraser, businessman David Alexander, property developers Dan Macdonald and Mark Shaw, media consultants Ian McKerron and Gordon Hay, website designer Caroline Key and QC Ian Forrester. Business journalists Peter Jones, Bill Jamieson and Kenny Kemp were also present. In addition to this range of formidable talent, the group is independent, politically unaffiliated, and open to all.
www.sundayherald.com/business/businessnews/display.var.2480749.0.
January 15, 2009
Proceedings were more decorous than the (temporary) title, "the Voodoo Group", suggests. Economist Robert McDowell, for example, read a poem comparing the collapse of the Scottish banking sector to the Hanoverian victory at Culloden.
But this was no nostalgia-fest. Club members were there to discuss how the banks can regain the trust of the public.
As one member of the group pronounced: "Trust cannot be recreated without a change in culture and a rediscovery of the values that distinguished Scottish banking. That requires a critical rethink of the forces that drove banking straight into the wall over recent years."
The group - which will formalise itself shortly - wants Scotland to get the banks it deserves, and was determinedly upbeat about the future. As one attendee put it: "This was more of an awakening than a wake." He also said that he believes a last-ditch chance remains that the Court of Session can be persuaded against approving the Scheme of Arrangement that will permit Lloyds's takeover of HBOS. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.
One idea floated at the event was that the group should monitor the activities of Lloyds Banking Group - the new name for the merged HBOS/Lloyds TSB - to ensure it keeps its pledges. It could also monitor whether the new-minted oligopoly behaves as a responsible corporate citizen north of the Border, and headquarters insurance and fund management activities in Edinburgh.
Another proposal was that the group act as watchdog on bank competition north of the Border, particularly as the government, effectively owner of both Lloyds Banking Group and RBS, now has a near-monopoly.
Dark threats were heard of class actions against the two leading Scottish banks for allegedly misleading investors, customers and staff prior to launching rights issues in April. There was also talk of how the government allegedly "corralled" asset management groups and life insurers, including Standard Life, into rubbishing attempts by Sir George Mathewson and Sir Peter Burt to oust HBOS's management.
Among the conspirators were members of the Merger Action Group, which last year tried to derail Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS. They included investment banker Tim Noble, solicitors Robert Bertram and Walter Semple, corporate financier Peter de Vink, online bank founder Jim Spowart, economist Robert McDowell, architect Malcolm Fraser, businessman David Alexander, property developers Dan Macdonald and Mark Shaw, media consultants Ian McKerron and Gordon Hay, website designer Caroline Key and QC Ian Forrester. Business journalists Peter Jones, Bill Jamieson and Kenny Kemp were also present. In addition to this range of formidable talent, the group is independent, politically unaffiliated, and open to all.
www.sundayherald.com/business/businessnews/display.var.2480749.0.
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