Frederick Anderson Goodwin
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
FCIBS (born 17 August 1958) is a Scottish
chartered accountant and former banker who was
Chief Executive Officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(CEO) of the
Royal Bank of Scotland Group
NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...
(RBS) between 2001 and 2009.
From 2000 to 2008, he presided over RBS's rapid rise to global prominence as the world's largest company by assets (£1.9 trillion), and fifth-largest bank by stock market value
and its even more rapid fall as RBS was forced into effective
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
in 2008. On 11 October 2008, Goodwin officially announced his resignation as chief executive and an early retirement, effective from 31 January 2009 – a month before RBS announced that its 2008 loss totalled £24.1 billion, the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.
['']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 26 February 2009
RBS record losses raise prospect of 95% state ownership
/ref>
From January 2010, he was employed as a senior adviser to RMJM
RMJM (Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall) is one of the largest architecture and design networks in the world. Services include architecture, development management, engineering, interior design, landscape design, lead consultancy, master planning, ...
, an international architecture firm. He left the position after less than a year.
Goodwin was knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in 2004 for his services to banking, but in a highly unusual move the honour was annulled by the Queen on 1 February 2012. The Cabinet Office explained "The scale and severity of the impact of his actions as CEO of RBS made this an exceptional case."
Life and career
Early career
Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire
Paisley ( ; sco, Paisley, gd, Pàislig ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Wate ...
, Goodwin is the son of a Scottish electrician
An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...
['']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', 2 November 2003
Special Report: Is RBS’s Fred the Shred too good to be true?
/ref> and was the first of his family to go to university, attending Paisley Grammar School
Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. The school is recognised as one of Scotland's ...
before studying law at Glasgow University
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
. He joined accountants Touche Ross
Touché, Touche, Latouche, La Touche, or de la Touche may refer to:
Sports
* Touché (fencing), French for "touched", a term used to acknowledge a hit
Arts and entertainment
* ''Touché'' (Hush album), by Australian band Hush, 1977
* ''Touch ...
, and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1983. Between 1985 and 1987, he was part of a Touche Ross management consultant
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...
team at Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was fo ...
, and became a partner in Touche Ross in 1988. He was appointed a director of Short Brothers
Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...
, and tasked with preparing the largest industrial employer in Northern Ireland for its 1989 privatisation.['']The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'', 6 August 2000
Why Fred is getting credit
/ref> For Touche Ross he headed the worldwide liquidation of Bank of Credit and Commerce International after its collapse in July 1991. At 32, Goodwin was in charge of 1,000 people with teams from London to Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
and the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
that eventually returned over half the money from one of the most complicated, high-profile financial frauds ever.['']The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'', 18 April 2005
How a high-stakes poker game stoked a bitter banking rivalry
/ref> The extent of his role in the liquidation of Bank of Credit and Commerce International was questioned by finance journalist Ian Fraser.['' Daily Record'', 2 June 2014]
Revealed: How shamed RBS chief Fred Goodwin lied to land first top job at Clydesdale Bank
/ref>
His move into banking came through his work at Touche Ross with the National Australia Bank
National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...
, contributing due diligence
Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care.
It can be a l ...
to its 1987 takeover of Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland.
In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money for ...
from the then Midland Bank
Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...
and again with its 1995 takeover of Yorkshire Bank. During work on the latter he caught the eye of National Australia Bank executive Don Argus, and was invited to become deputy chief executive of Clydesdale in 1995, and as per his "five-second rule", accepted on the spot rising to chief executive of National Australia's British banking operations in 1996. Around this time he gained the moniker "Fred the Shred" from City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
financiers, reflecting a reputation for ruthlessly generating cost savings and efficiencies whilst at Clydesdale.
He joined Royal Bank of Scotland in 1998 as deputy CEO to then-CEO Sir George Mathewson
Sir George Ross Mathewson, (born 14 May 1940) is a Scottish businessman. He is best known for transforming the Scottish bank The Royal Bank of Scotland from a struggling regional player into a quasi global bank with parallels to Citigroup or HS ...
, who had ambitions to make RBS a major player rather than a national bank. RBS made waves in 2000 with its £23.6 billion takeover of NatWest
National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...
, a bank three times its size. Although Goodwin's predecessor Mathewson led the deal, it was Goodwin's diligence and ability to impress investors which secured it against fierce competition from the Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...
. The ''Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' wrote that "The NatWest deal was the making of Goodwin," with Goodwin promoted to CEO in January 2001, soon after it was secured, dedicated to continuing Mathewson's vision.['']Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', 8 February 2009
How Fred shredded RBS
/ref> Goodwin lived up to his reputation, cutting 18,000 jobs by merging parts of RBS and NatWest.
CEO of RBS (2001–2008)
Expansion
After the purchase of NatWest, RBS made a string of further acquisitions around the world, including the purchase of Irish mortgage provider First Active
First Active was an Irish bank, and former building society which was merged into Ulster Bank in late 2009, ceasing trading in February 2010. It traditionally offered a range of mortgages (including subprime mortgages), savings, investment, ...
and UK insurers Churchill Insurance
Churchill Insurance is a British insurance company based in Bromley, London. Founded in 1989, as one of the country's first direct to customer car insurance companies, the company has expanded to offer a range of general insurance products. Sin ...
and Direct Line
Direct Line is an insurance company based in Bromley, England. Founded in 1985, as the country's first direct car insurance company, it has since expanded to offer a range of general insurance products. Its policies are underwritten by the regul ...
. During negotiations with Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...
over the acquisition of Churchill, it is said that Goodwin maintained silence for an hour at lunch with Credit Suisse's CEO, supporting his demand for indemnity against any potential losses from the associated The Accident Group
The Accident Group was a Manchester-based personal injury claims management company that went into administration in May 2003. The firm gained notoriety for firing 2,400 workers by text message, which, according to BBC reports, led to the firm's ...
, which would collapse soon after. He got his way. RBS also bulked up its US Citizens Financial Group, Inc. arm with a string of further deals. Then in May 2004, RBS said it would purchase Charter One Financial Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
for $10.5 billion. The deal, at a price "widely considered too high"['' The Journal'', 26 January 2009]
RBS's Fred Goodwin: the world's worst banker?
spread the RBS's banking web across the Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
for the first time, and made its U.S. banking operations No. 7 in the United States.
From the time that Goodwin took over as chief executive until 2007, RBS's assets quadrupled, its cost-to-income ratio improved markedly, and its profits soared. In 2006, pre-tax profits climbed 16% to £9.2 billion with significant growth coming from its investment banking
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
business. By 2008 RBS was the fifth-largest bank in the world by market capitalisation. One of the factors in its rise was its enthusiasm for supporting leveraged buyouts
A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...
. In 2008 it lent $9.3bn, more than double its nearest rival.
However, following investor unrest in the build-up to RBS's acquisition of a $1.6bn minority stake in Bank of China
The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world.
The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...
in 2005, Goodwin was criticised by some RBS shareholders for putting global expansion ahead of short-term financial returns. Between 2002 and 2005, the share price plateaued at around £17 per share, having nearly trebled between February 2000 and May 2002. Goodwin was accused of megalomania by some shareholders, as reported by Dresdner Kleinwort
Kleinwort Hambros is a private bank owned by Société Générale that offers financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Kleinwort Hambros focuses on private banking, providing a range of services for high ...
analyst James Eden (who said he thought the label was 'unwarranted').['']The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 5 August 2005
RBS chief Sir Fred rejects charge of 'megalomania'
/ref> After the Bank of China deal, he was forced to promise RBS shareholders he would not indulge in any further big acquisitions and focus instead on growing the group organically.
However, in early 2007, Dutch bank ABN Amro
ABN or abn may refer to:
Companies
* ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group
* ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank
* Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank
Radio, news and television organizat ...
was under pressure from hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
s, including Chris Hohn
Sir Christopher Anthony Hohn KCMG (born October 1966) is a British billionaire hedge fund manager.
In 2003, Hohn established The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI), a prominent value-based hedge fund. Profits generated by the fund we ...
of the hedge fund TCI, to break itself up in order to maximise shareholder value. ABN chief executive Rijkman Groenink suspected RBS of acting in concert with the hedge fund Tosca, which was chaired by former RBS Chairman Mathewson and recommended the takeover bid of an RBS consortium, against the proposed merger with Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
.['']The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', 9 October 2007
RBS on brink of declaring victory in ABN battle
/ref> Goodwin arranged a consortium of RBS, Fortis and former RBS shareholders Grupo Santander
Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres ...
, to purchase the assets of ABN Amro and break them up in a three-way split. According to the proposed deal, RBS would take over ABN's Chicago operations, LaSalle Bank
LaSalle Bank Corporation was the holding company for LaSalle Bank N.A. and LaSalle Bank Midwest N.A. (formerly Standard Federal Bank). With US$116 billion in assets, it was headquartered at 135 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, Illinois. LaSa ...
, and ABN's wholesale operations; while Santander would take the Brazilian operations and Fortis the Dutch operations. In a manoeuvre "labelled in all quarters as a poison pill" ABN Amro agreed to sell key RBS target LaSalle to Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
for $21bn, but in July 2007 the consortium offered the same $98bn for ABN's remaining assets, with a higher cash component (93%). The deal was struck in October 2007 as the global liquidity crisis began to develop, with Barclays withdrawing its EUR61bn bid and ABN's shareholders endorsing the EUR71bn RBS takeover. Coming after the nationalisation of Northern Rock
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...
due to the freezing of the wholesale money markets, the deal proved the final straw for RBS, as it severely weakened its balance sheet not only through the size of the acquisition but due to ABN Amro's substantial exposure to the US subprime mortgage crisis
The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...
.
Collapse
Goodwin's strategy of aggressive expansion primarily through acquisition, including the takeover of ABN Amro
ABN or abn may refer to:
Companies
* ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group
* ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank
* Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank
Radio, news and television organizat ...
, eventually proved disastrous and led to the near-collapse of RBS in the October 2008 liquidity crisis In financial economics, a liquidity crisis is an acute shortage of ''liquidity''. Liquidity may refer to market liquidity (the ease with which an asset can be converted into a liquid medium, e.g. cash), funding liquidity (the ease with which borrow ...
. The €71 billion (£55 billion) ABN Amro deal (of which RBS's share was £10 billion) in particular stretched the bank's capital position – £16.8 billion of RBS's record £24.1 billion loss is attributed to writedowns relating to the takeover of ABN Amro.
It was not, however, the sole source of RBS's problems, as RBS was exposed to the liquidity crisis in a number of ways, particularly through US subsidiaries including RBS Greenwich Capital
NatWest Markets is the investment banking arm of NatWest Group.
It was created from the then RBS Group's corporate and institutional banking division in 2016, as part of a structural reform intended to comply with the requirements of the Finan ...
. Although the takeover of NatWest launched RBS's meteoric rise, it came with an investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
subsidiary, Greenwich NatWest
NatWest Markets is the investment banking arm of NatWest Group.
It was created from the then RBS Group's corporate and institutional banking division in 2016, as part of a structural reform intended to comply with the requirements of the Finan ...
. RBS was unable to dispose of it as planned as a result of the involvement of the NatWest Three
The NatWest Three, also known as the Enron Three, are three British businessmen – Giles Darby, David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew. In 2002 they were indicted in Houston, Texas on seven counts of wire fraud against their former employer Greenwich ...
with the collapsed energy trader Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
. However the business (now RBS Greenwich Capital
NatWest Markets is the investment banking arm of NatWest Group.
It was created from the then RBS Group's corporate and institutional banking division in 2016, as part of a structural reform intended to comply with the requirements of the Finan ...
) started making money, and under pressure of comparison with rapidly growing competitors such as Barclays Capital
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
, saw major expansion in 2005–7, not least in private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
loans and in the sub-prime mortgage market. It became one of the top three underwriters of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). This increased exposure to the eventual "credit crunch" contributed to RBS's financial problems.
The third contributor to RBS's problems was its liquidity position. From a position around 2002 where the bank was essentially 'fully funded' (i.e. was funding its lending positions fully from deposits gathered from customers), the rapid growth in lending within the GBM (Global Banking and Markets) division led to a reliance on external wholesale funding. The combination of this, along with the weak equity capital position, and the massive exposure to losses on CDOs via Greenwich, were the factors that destroyed RBS. The bank experienced severe financial problems, and attempted to shore up its balance sheet with a £12 billion share issue in April 2008, one of the largest in UK corporate history. The attempt to raise an additional £7 billion capital by selling off insurers Churchill and Direct Line failed due to lack of interest in the context of the global liquidity crisis. RBS was forced in October 2008 to rely on a UK Government bank rescue package to support a shareholder recapitalisation of the bank, which resulted in the government owning a majority of the shares. Following two rights issue
A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it can b ...
s in 2008, Goodwin resigned as Chief Executive.
On 13 October 2008, as part of the arrangement for government support (of which Goodwin said "This isn't a negotiation, it's a drive-by shooting"['']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', 20 January 2009
Hubris to nemesis: how Sir Fred Goodwin became the ‘world’s worst banker’
/ref>), it was announced that Goodwin was to stand down as CEO, to be replaced by Stephen Hester. Goodwin formally left RBS on 1 January 2009.['']The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', 26 February 2009
Sir Fred Goodwin refuses to return pension
/ref>
The share price, when Goodwin became CEO of RBS, in January 2001, was 442p. After reaching £18 a share (equivalent to £6 per share after each share was split into three in May 2007), on the day of his departure it was announced that the share price was 65.70p[The Scotsman, 14 October 2008]
Fred Goodwin: The 'boy from Paisley' who found himself at centre of a global storm
/ref> reflecting share buyback
Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the re-acquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way (relative to dividends) of returning money to shareholders. When used in coor ...
s, rights issues as well as market valuation. Despite these developments, the ''Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' insisted that "his grasp of finance is in the Alpha class" and that he was "unlikely to be in the growing queue of jobless bankers" for long. In 2008/9, the RBS group was effectively nationalised: the UK Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
owns nearly 70% of the ordinary shares of the company owing to its enormous debts. By January 2009, the share price was more than 98% down from its February 2007 peak.
Media commentary and criticism
During Goodwin's tenure as CEO he attracted criticism for lavish spending, including expenditure on the construction of a £350 million headquarters at Gogarburn
Gogar is a predominantly rural area of Edinburgh, Scotland, located to the west of the city. It is not far from Gogarloch, Edinburgh Park and Maybury. The Fife Circle Line is to the north.
Etymology
The name of Gogar first appears in a clea ...
outside Edinburgh opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 2005 (described by one commentator as "comically expensive",) and $500m headquarters in the US begun in 2006[''Slate'', 1 December 200]
Who's the World's Worst Banker?
/ref> as well as the use of a Dassault Falcon 900
The Dassault Falcon 900, commonly abbreviated as the F900, is a French-built corporate trijet aircraft made by Dassault Aviation.
Development
The Falcon 900 is a development of the Falcon 50, itself a development of the earlier Falcon 20. Th ...
jet owned by RBS leasing
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
subsidiary Lombard for occasional corporate travel.
Under Goodwin, "access to the RBS Executive Wing used to be extremely difficult, even for those who had enjoyed long careers at the bank". His "penthouse-style office on the top level was a staggering 20 metres long", being "so large that it has since been split in two [after Goodwin's departure) and still comfortably accommodates the bank’s current chairman Sir Howard Davies, CEO Ross McEwan and their staff". Goodwin's "hatred of mess and any form of disorder" led to the bank implementing sloping-top filing cabinets to prevent employees from placing items at the top of the cabinets.
In February 2009, RBS reported that while Goodwin was at the helm it had posted a loss of £24.1 billion, the biggest loss in UK corporate history. His responsibility for the expansion of RBS, which led to the losses, has drawn widespread criticism. During questioning by the Treasury Select Committee
The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...
of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons on 10 February 2009, it emerged that Goodwin had no technical bank training and no formal banking qualifications.
In January 2009, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
s City editor Julia Finch identified him as one of twenty-five people who were at the heart of the financial meltdown. Nick Cohen
Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for '' The Observer'' and a blogger for '' The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and be ...
described Goodwin in ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' as "the characteristic villain of our day", who made £20m from RBS and left the taxpayer "with an unlimited liability for the cost of cleaning up the mess". An online column by Daniel Gross labelled Goodwin "The World's Worst Banker", a phrase repeated elsewhere in the media. Gordon Prentice
Gordon Prentice (born 28 January 1951) is a British former politician of the Labour Party who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pendle in Lancashire from 1992 to 2010.
Early life
He was educated at the independent George Heriot's School i ...
MP argued that his knighthood should be revoked as it is "wholly inappropriate and anomalous for someone to retain such a reward in these circumstances." A Labour MP from Scotland, Jim Sheridan
Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish playwright and filmmaker.
Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed two critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, '' My Left Foot'' and '' In the Name of the Father'', and later directed the fi ...
, repeated the suggestion, and added that the police should investigate the activities of senior bankers.
In September 2011, Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
at the time of the RBS collapse noted in leaked excerpts from his upcoming book, ''Back From The Brink: 1,000 Days at No 11'' that Goodwin behaved "as if he was off to play a game of golf" while officials struggled to prevent a meltdown. Darling describes the secret discussions which led to the Labour government effectively nationalising RBS and Goodwin being heavily criticised for his management style and conduct and wrote that Goodwin "deserved to be a pariah".
Size of pension
Media and government criticism increased on disclosure in February 2009 of the size of Goodwin's pension. The treasury minister Lord Myners
Paul Myners, Baron Myners, (1 April 1948 – 16 January 2022) was a British businessman and politician. In October 2008 he was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer and was appointed City Minister in the Labour Government of Gordon B ...
had indicated to RBS that there should be "no reward for failure", but Goodwin's pension entitlement, represented by a notional fund of £8 million, was doubled, to a notional fund of £16 million or more, because under the terms of the scheme he was entitled to receive, at age 50, benefits which would otherwise have been available to him only if he had worked until age 60.['']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 26 February
Ex-RBS chief Goodwin faces legal challenge to £693k pension
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Sir Philip Hampton
Sir Philip Roy Hampton (born 5 October 1953) is a British businessman. He was the first chairman of UK Financial Investments Limited in 2008 and chairman of government-owned The Royal Bank of Scotland Group between 2009 and 2015. He has also ch ...
, RBS's new chairman, stated that as a result Goodwin is drawing £693,000 a year (later revised to £703,000 due to Goodwin working an extra month in the new financial year), and disclosed that under the RBS pension scheme Goodwin is entitled to draw the pension already, at age 50, because he had been asked to leave employment early, rather than having been dismissed. A pensions expert suggested that this meant Goodwin had received a substantial payoff from his early retirement, as it would cost around £25 million to buy such a pension and his pension 'pot' amounted to £16 million. When the matter became public in late February 2009, Goodwin defended his decision to refuse to reduce his pension entitlement in a letter to Lord Myners on 26 February, pointing out that on leaving in October 2008 he had given up a contractual 12-month notice period worth around £1.29 million and share options worth around £300,000. In March 2009 Lord Myners revealed that part of the reason Goodwin's pension was so large was that RBS treated him as having joined the pension scheme from age 20 (instead of 40, when he actually joined) and ignored contributions to his pension from previous employment.
Stephen Timms, a government finance minister, protested publicly about the matter. He said that it would be referred to the UK Financial Investments Limited.['']BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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