This is the definitive account of the Royal Bank of Scotland scandal.
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, 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.
'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' - Martin Woolf, Financial Times
