Shredded: Inside RBS: The Bank That Broke Britain

by Ian Fraser

Overview

An award-winning journalist details the near-collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland in the late 2000s.

For a few brief months in 2007 and 2009, the Royal Bank of Scotland was the largest bank in the world. Then the Edinburgh-based giant—having rapidly grown its footprint to 55 countries and stretched its assets to £2.4 trillion under its hubristic and delinquent former boss Fred Goodwin—crashed to earth.

In Shredded, author Ian Fraser explores the series of cataclysmic misjudgments, the toxic internal culture and the “light touch” regulatory regime that gave rise to RBS/NatWest’s near-collapse. He also considers why it became the most expensive bank in the world to bail out and why a culture of impunity was allowed to develop in the banking sector.

This new edition brings the story up to date, chronicling the string of scandals that have come to light since taxpayers rescued RBS and concluding with an evaluation of the attempts of the bank’s post-crisis chief executives, Stephen Hester and Ross McEwan, to dismantle Goodwin’s disastrous legacy and restore the damaged institutions to health.

Praise for Shredded

“A magnificent book. I regard it as one of the best investigative books of the past decade.” —Eamonn O’Neill, BBC Radio Scotland

“Impeccably researched and hard to put down at any point—The author pulls no punches.” —Philip Augar, Financial Times (UK)

“Combines Greek tragedy with real-life events that have affected us all. It’s hard to put down.” —Devraj Ray, Mortgage Strategy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857906236
Publisher:	Birlinn, Limited
Publication date:	02/12/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	608
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ian Fraser is an award-winning journalist, commentator and broadcaster who writes about business, finance, politics and economics. He has written for titles including The Economist, Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Independent on Sunday, the Herald, Sunday Herald, BBC News, Thomson Reuters, Dow Jones, Accountancy, CA Magazine and Citywire.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

Acknowledgements xv

Introduction xvii

Preface xxi

1 The battle Royal 1

2 Mathewson to the rescue 14

3 Rebuilding the Royal 26

4 Hanging on the telephone 37

5 Financial engineering 41

6 Wings spread 48

7 George's big ambition 55

8 The Fred and Johnny show 69

9 Bagging NatWest 88

10 Anglo-Scottish blend 108

11 The wrong kind of growth 125

12 The fear culture 141

13 Wall of silence 151

14 Riding the Tiger 157

15 Royal Bank of Fred 171

16 Laird of Gogarburn 178

17 Enter the pharmacist 191

18 Fundamentally supine 194

19 Three pillars of ignorance 211

20 All-American boy 218

21 No more deals 233

22 Failed alchemists 245

23 Bad leveraged bets 261

24 I'm a-shattered, shattered! 266

25 That Border Collie feeling 285

26 Explosions at ABN 302

27 Drink the Kool-Aid 313

28 The crash 338

29 Death's Head 358

30 Fred found out 381

31 Defibrillation and despair 391

32 False dawn 403

33 Hester's ledger 416

34 Et tu, George? 444

35 McEwan's uncertain remedy 454

36 Normalisation of sorts 464

37 Komodo dragon 474

38 Largest theft anywhere, ever 484

39 The guilty men 492

Epilogue: Flight of fancy? 530

Glossary 539

Endnotes 543

Bibliography 607

Index 611

Editorial Reviews

A riveting read'

The Guardian - Joris Luyendijk

"A brilliant investigative documentary…The behaviours which precipitated the global financial crash were visible at RBS to those who peered inside at the time. Ian Fraser’s second look is a no less damning indictment of unreformed banking practices left unhindered by failed regulatory bodies. Shredded is an essential manual for anyone in British politics."

Review Common Space - Alasdair Clark

This book should be posted through the letterbox of every taxpayer in Britain

David Mellor

The definitive account of the RBS fiasco. It's an engaging tale of how self-serving bank executives systematically broke the rules, lent with astonishing recklessness, abused customers and got suckered by Wall Street - before dumping their mess on the tax

Yves Smith

Not just the definitive book on the collapse of RBS but one of the best five books on the great financial collapse which changed the history of the 21st century. Ian pulls no punches in his conclusions

Russell Napier

Engrossing, fascinating and appalling - a fast-paced and sickeningly-depressing exposition of what can go wrong when corporate governance fails

Ruth Bender

A manual for understanding banks, the financial crisis, and also corporate greed and hubris

P.C. Dettman

You should absolutely read Ian Fraser's Shredded. It is probably the definitive work on the British and Irish banks in the Great Bubble and the ensuing Great Financial Crisis

The Yorkshire Ranter - Alexander Harrowell

The definitive text. I'm thinking of Barbarians at the Gate about Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and RJR Nabisco. An instant classic

The Keiser Report - Max Keiser

The best financial book I've ever read. Thank you, Ian, for a public service

The Herald - Simon Bain

Combines Greek tragedy with real-life events that have affected us all. It's hard to put down

Mortgage Strategy - Devraj Ray

A rattling good read. Hubris, nemesis. Truly shocking

Law Society Gazette - Paul Rogerson

I don't think I have ever read such a perfect morality tale for our times

FT Adviser - Iona Bain

Impeccably researched and hard to put down at any point - The author pulls no punches

Financial Times - Philip Augar

Shredded is a magnificent book. I regard it as one of the best investigative books of the past decade

BBC Radio Scotland - Eamonn O'Neill

Tumultuous ... profoundly shocking'

The Observer - Kevin McKenna

Ian Fraser has produced a genuine page turner

Pieria - Alex Marsh

The definitive account of degenerate financial capitalism'

The Herald - Iain Macwhirter

Explosive

Independent on Sunday - Tom Harper

A model of the journalist's craft, Zola-esque in its broad and unsparing study of corporate hubris and nemesis and haunting in the questions it leaves in its wake

The Scotsman - Bill Jamieson

Magisterial - the most detailed catalogue to date of the errors and misdemeanours leading up to RBS's 2008 collapse and the failure — in Fraser's view — to reform the bank in its aftermath

The Herald - Colin Donald

Nearly six years after the bailout, Shredded reminds us how much of banking reform is still a work in progress

Nick Dunbar

A gripping account - RBS was a rogue business, operating in what had become a rogue industry, with the connivance of government. Read it and weep'

Financial Times - Martin Wolf