RBS: Inside the bank that ran out of money
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Fred the Shred, the notorious former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, is at the centre of this documentary about the collapse of the bank.
The story of RBS is one that will go down in banking history and RBS: Inside the bank that ran out of money, shown on BBC1 Scotland earlier this month, looks back at the last decade at the bank a Scottish institution that was once lauded far and wide.
Much has been said about Sir Fred Goodwin in the press, about both his personal and working habits, but the documentary speaks to the people in the know his colleagues at the time.
BBC Scotland has done a fine job in rounding up interviewees for the documentary.
They include former RBS chief executive and chairman Sir George Mathewson, former RBS director Gordon Pell, Iain Robertson, RBS’ former head of corporate banking, and Sir Peter Burt, who was chief executive of Bank of Scotland when it was outbid in its attempt to buy NatWest.
Goodwin is the only noticeable absence in the line-up, which would explain why at times the others use him as a scapegoat.
The hype around the programme centres on unseen footage of a shareholder meeting in 2008 in which Goodwin apologises. The apology comes after an investor asks outgoing chairman Sir Tom McKillop if Goodwin will apologise for his actions.
“I wouldn’t want there to be any doubt I am extremely sorry,” Goodwin replies. “I echo the sentiments and I am extremely sorry, extremely sad to be leaving the company at these extremely difficult times. There can be no question other than that I am extremely sorry.”
In the build-up to his apology the programme looks at the bank from the early days, when a small blue RBS van would roam the Scottish highlands, stopping off to visit local residents.
It follows Goodwin’s rise to power from when he was first poached to join the bank and paints a picture of him as a bully who would inhibit even senior staff from expressing their views, with his morning meetings becoming known as daily beatings.
But he was also an intelligent and successful businessman in his day, and gained the accolade of Forbes’ businessman of the year after posting record profits for the bank.
The documentary takes viewers back to the days of competition between RBS and the Bank of Scotland to be the biggest in the region.
RBS’ acquisition of NatWest ultimately transported the bank and Goodwin into the upper echelons of the banking world.
All the interviews for the show take place in what looks like a disused RBS building overlooking Edinburgh castle and music is used to dramatic effect to illustrate the bank’s life story.
The action also moves to the US for a look into RBS’ interests overseas. It focusses on Larry Fish, the former chief executive of its US subsidiary, Citizens Bank, who was known as a prudent man before the credit crisis hit. But as with the rest of RBS, his ambition got the better of him and the investments made in the US proved toxic.
There are no great revelations in the programme about why RBS failed in such a spectacular way so in that respect, the story is rather simple. RBS invested too heavily in the securitisation market, nobody quite understood what it was doing, and they didn’t want to ask.
Review by Natalie Thomas
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