Sunday, February 08, 2009

Off with their heads!

Please read the following article from Sky News today, paying particular attention to the two emboldened paragraphs - I assume you will be as furiously angry as I am about the bankers continuing to take the mickey out of us British taxpayers. It's a real shame that Britain "doesn't have guillotines".....

(Quote)
Controversial bank bonuses paid to staff despite an industry bail-out will be probed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has said.

The link between bonuses and excessive risk-taking with be examined during a review of management at the financial institutions, Alistair Darling said.

The Government has twice launched bank rescue packages, a £37bn recapitalisation scheme in October and a second last month, reported to be around £200bn.

The bail-outs have seen the state take big stakes in high street names like Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

But the prospect of banks which have been propped up by the state handing hefty bonuses to executives has provoked fury.

Vince Cable, finance spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said the City bankers "know no shame and take no blame, they are lucky the British have no guillotines in stock".

Early editions of The Sunday Telegraph reported that RBS, 68% of which is owned by the taxpayer, wanted to pay its staff nearly £1bn in bonuses this year.


Mr Darling is expected to announce full details of the inquiry Monday.

But he told The Sunday Telegraph: "Success should be rewarded. Failure should not.

"I expect the review to make recommendations about the effectiveness of risk-management by banks' boards, including how pay affects risk-taking."
(End quote)

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