RBS: Unlikely to ever get our money back

Graham_Devon

This is according to William Hutton...and others to be fair.

Even at best, they believe we'll get half the money back, but that is under an extending and unknown timeframe.

It's too much money, for what now, is a smaller bank, and getting smaller by the month.

Apparently politicians need to be truthful with voters now and state that we have lost x amount of pounds, however, it's better than losing the x amount of pounds we would have lost should the bank have gone under.

This is after the further £2bn loss last year...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17128477

CLAPTON

Most of the 'losses' are simply balance sheet write offs.
They have for example written off a large amount of their Greek debt; in reality it should have been written off several years ago and there will be more to come.

Running_Horse

We are in danger of being like the desperate house seller in negative equity, chasing the market down because they need to get a certain amount. It would be better to accept we will never make that money back, then sell 10% of the shares every year for the next ten years. While doing so, it must be made clear that in future no bank will be rescued ever again.

CLAPTON

Running_Horse wrote: »

While doing so, it must be made clear that in future no bank will be rescued ever again.

It would seem to me that the lesson to be learnt is that banks will always be rescued.

Generali

CLAPTON wrote: »

It would seem to me that the lesson to be learnt is that banks will always be rescued.

Why worry about which bank you lend money to as a saver? The Government will bail you out.

Why worry about the investments you make as a trader? The Government will bail out your employers and let you keep your bonuses (I've kept mine anyway).

Also, don't forget that pretty much nobody is including the cost of financing the bailout in the price of the bailout as it was done with 100% borrowed money. Back of envelope tells me that including financing, the spent cost so far of the bank/saver bailout is about £100,000,000,000 and rising.

Plus all the risk that you've taken on without charging for it: most people charge for providing insurance but you're doing it for nothing which is jolly kind.

Madness.

Generali

MrRewind wrote: »

Clearly we aren't paying enough in bonuses to attract the best bankers for the job. This is what you get when the general public try to stick their noses into the affairs on banks as if they run them.

They don't run them but they own a few.

ess0two

MrRewind wrote: »

I didn't say they ran them. I said stick their noses in AS IF they ran them.

Theres an armchair economist in all of us.