The banks really are putting themselves in a difficult corner. All the things that have gone against them in recent time, it is really little wonder that Mervyn King has said something. On this morning's Breakfast there were 'experts' talking about the way that the banks are organised currently have caused problems in the past. So as an historian put it, "the only thing that studying history does is prove that people do not learn from history." The banks being the latest examples.
Do you know the group that are the most upset about this? The investors! Their complaint is that they cannot trust the banks and there is no guarantee that there will not be a criminal enquiry and stiffer fines than the £290m, dished out already, to contend with. This depresses the share price, and the investers, who include our pension funds, lose money, on top of the money that they have already lost through the illegal manipulation of interest rates.
Stephan Hester has decided, for the second year running that he will forego his bonus of some £2.4m. Good! he does not deserve a bonus after his latest bank cock-up meant that some people could not access funds for an extended period of time and some people suffered some real hardship! Maybe RBS would like to take that £2.4m and distribute it among the people that have suffered. A bit too left wing methinks!
There is a report that is supposed to sort these problems out. Separating the investment arm form the retail arm seems to be the solution. As was described on this morning's TV show, both of these have different attitudes and when you have them playing on the same team, it does not work. So don't expect change to happen any time soon. You can guarantee that there will be some serious lobbying from the people who will have their ability to earn oodles of cash curtailed by this re-organisation.