Many of the rules intended to crack down on the industry are being rolled back after a number of U-turns from George OsborneThis time seven years ago,Fred Goodwin - still a Sir – had just lost his job running Royal Bank of Scotland. The Edinburgh-based bank was bailed out by taxpayers, alongside Lloyds TSB and the collapsing HBOS. Barclays was in the throes of raising billions pounds in the Middle East to avoid the same fate. Events seemed to raise questions about the future of capitalism – let alone banking.
Scroll on to October 2015 and you would be forgiven for thinking the banking crisis had never happened. The government is talking about selling off its final few shares in Lloyds to the public at a discount to foster a new-found savor for capitalism; Barclays is poised to name as its new boss Jes Staley, and an American with an investment banking background who is expected to throw caution to the wind and wade back into the riskiest parts of banking. (The government’s stake in RBS,though, is proving tough to shift.) Related: How the banks ignored the lessons of the crash | Joris Luyendijk Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com