authorities start investigations regarding bonuses before company went bust.

bubblesmoney

“ABN Amro and Royal Bank of Scotland are both bankrupt and their leaders are disgraced, but the investment banker who put it together walks off with $30 million,” Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve and now head of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said at a conference at New York University’s Stern School of Business last week. “There’s something the matter with that system.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=awsGRFrGWClM&refer=home

yes there is something wrong with the system, when massive bonuses are given even when companies go bust and surprise surprise there is still no mention of criminal investigations in the uk.

the investment banker has already been interrogated by the attorney generals office in the usa but here in the UK we have the PM and other ministers 'requesting' people to voluntarily reduce their pensions, when instead they should be investigated for fraud, criminal conspiracy and profiteering at the cost of the company which resulted in the share holders and the govt paying the price

Orcel, 45, Merrill’s top investment banker, has been subpoenaed to testify by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who’s looking into the firm’s decision to pay $3.6 billion in bonuses to 700 employees just before it was swallowed by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. on Jan. 1.

JasonLVC

Under Blair's 'special arrangement', if a UK banker had screwed up a USA based bank, the US authorities would have the ability to exxtradite anyone they felt fit to for prosecution in the US.

Strange how the arrangement wasn't reciprocal.

The UK banking industry is in tatters and the Brown keeps talking about fixing it. I fear we will not come out of this downturn until the everyone has confidence in the banking system again - and that confidence can only come from radical change.

I read at the weekend that the FSA, which is charged to keep an eye on banks, referred to the banks as 'customers' and the pay and bonus given to FSA staff was based upon feedback given by the banks....so if the auditor gave a negative view of a banks lending, the bank would slag the auditor offf and the auditor wouldn;t get a bonus - talk about designing a system to feather your own bed?.

Guy_Montag

Oh, they're not doing it in the UK?

There's a surprise.

thriftybabe

They should do it in the UK especially as it is all the taxpayers money being used. Can you imagine if the man on the street ran a scam, raked in loads of money from it and left the country to pick up the pieces! I am sure there would be an investigation into that!

chewmylegoff

JasonLVC wrote: »

I read at the weekend that the FSA, which is charged to keep an eye on banks, referred to the banks as 'customers' and the pay and bonus given to FSA staff was based upon feedback given by the banks....so if the auditor gave a negative view of a banks lending, the bank would slag the auditor offf and the auditor wouldn;t get a bonus - talk about designing a system to feather your own bed?.

where did you read that little "gem"? got a link?

Swishter

chewmylegoff wrote: »

where did you read that little "gem"? got a link?

I read it too, it was in the Sunday Times, the money section I believe. I've had a look on Times Online but I can't find it!

bubblesmoney

a few weeks ago bloomberg had an article on who got bailout funds from AIG. it named goldmansachs etc. curiously the article got edited soon and the bit naming them disappeared. but now again got leaked in the newyork times i think. wonder why the bloomberg article got edited to remove the names in the first place!:rolleyes:
coincidence probably that people in power like tax cheat timmy have links with goldmansachs and also a whole bunch of others in power

lostinrates

What is extradition like between Uk and Switzerland, Monaco and Campione d’Italia and the like? I genuinely have no idea

The Carribean is nice but I think a lot of departing Englanders will stay European, and that even if this becomes a source of scrutiny we'll never get the really rich back here to face any sort of music.

JasonLVC

chewmylegoff wrote: »

where did you read that little "gem"? got a link?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5864476.ece

Now accepting that we cannot believe everything we read in the paper....the FSA do not actually deny the story, just that the bonus is only partly based on 'customer' feedback.

We are led to believe the FSA is this watchdog with teeth, standing up for the little man and ensuring good practice within the industry...it now looks like the banks pay for the FSA to exist and that staff get paid based on how little trouble they stir up for the customer.

if we also then consider the story from a few weeks back when the FSA staff were sharing a huge bonus pot, despite their numerous failures - we can see that Mr Brown has a long way to go to changing the 'world'.

B33fy

bubblesmoney wrote: »

a few weeks ago bloomberg had an article on who got bailout funds from AIG. it named goldmansachs etc. curiously the article got edited soon and the bit naming them disappeared. but now again got leaked in the newyork times i think. wonder why the bloomberg article got edited to remove the names in the first place!:rolleyes:
coincidence probably that people in power like tax cheat timmy have links with goldmansachs and also a whole bunch of others in power

I guess this might be referring to the article, http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=2307

Not sure how reliable the site is, but this seems factual