Where am I? 
Home Better Business
Categories: Better Business
Topics: RBS| Recession| David Cameron
Former RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin has had his knighthood cancelled and annulled by the Queen.
The honours forefeiture committee met earlier today to decide on the issue after prime minister David Cameron referred the decision earlier this month, saying it was not a choice for a prime minister to make.
The banker presided over a huge expansion in RBS between 2001 and 2008, culminating in the bank heading a £49bn consortium deal to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro at the top of the market in 2007.
Goodwin was awarded the knighthood for services to banking in 2004 but became a focal point of public anger during the financial crisis after the government was forced to make a £45bn bailout of the bank.
Cameron said the committee would take into account the FSA's recent report into the collapse of RBS, effectively nationalised in 2008 after making a £24.1bn loss with Goodwin at the helm.
Announcing the decision, the cabinet office said the "scale and severity" of the impact of Goodwin's actions while CEO of RBS.
"[Both the FSA and the Treasury Select Committee] are clear that the failure of RBS played an important role in the financial crisis of 2008-9 which, together with other macroeconomic factors, triggered the worst recession in the UK since the Second World War and imposed significant direct costs on British taxpayers and businesses," the statement said.
"Fred Goodwin was the dominant decision maker at RBS at the time."
| Share | |
| Comment | Fred Goodwin to be stripped of knighthood |
More better business news
Email alerts
Recommended reading
Categories
Topics
Comments
stripped of knighthood
What about going for the top of the FSA who authorised this takeover, instead of chasing IFA,s to see if they have put a full stop in the right place on their letterheads and using any excuse to get rid of us. It does not bode well for this country for those moving on to higher things and have dropped clangers like this.
Posted by: terry
It shouldn't stop there
That is what makes it petty and vindictive, i.e. The Shred being singled out when many others should be taken to task. I also think that's why there's 'outrage' amongst others in the Cosy Club. They're probably wondering if they're next in line to lose their coverted gongs. Still there is some irony that an individual is awarded a K for services to banking and then oversees the collapse of the world's biggest bank. He may not have done it on purpose but then again maybe he shouldn't have been there in the first place! And there's the small matter of his £350K p.a. pension!
Posted by: Duncan Carter
Related articles
Most Read
Audio / Visual
With the industry's biggest fund managers, IFAonline welcomes you to the media centre.
This year we have 14 awards designed to mark out the very best products in a highly competitive and innovative market. This includes three new awards for 2011 to reflect the developments in this rapidly growing market: Best Dual/Multi-Index Product, Best Structured (Oeic) Fund and Best Structured Product Provider.
Events
Poll
|
|
Job search
Ifaonlinejobs will open the right investment career path for you. Search hundreds of vacancies on www.ifaonlinejobs.co.uk now
In Focus
Viewpoints
About 2.66 million people are looking to increase the amount of money...
sponsored by
Pathetic
Vindictive and petty. He didn’t do it on purpose – he was just wrong. He thought he was doing the right thing at the time. There are plenty of those who were far worse. For example why not strip (Posthumously) Field Marshall Earl Haig of all his honours and accolades for the inept way he sent millions to their death in WW1? Now that really is someone who should be castigated and defenestrated. I am no admirer of Fred, but this is really singling him as a scapegoat. Why not go after Crash Gordon and Avaricious Blair – they were the one who bestowed the honour in the first place.
Posted by: Harry Katz