There were three stories that I found particularly worrying
at the end of last week. Each story, by their own right should cause
consternation but the collaboration of all three spell out loud and clear, how
so little has changed post Global Financial Crises. It is still very much cover
up, scapegoat, incompetence and jobs for the boys. All of which, combined got Ireland to where
it is today and the like of which we never should have seen post bailout.
Unfortunately, its very much business as usual.
The stories. 'Banking Crises documents are missing', 'Irish
Water spend €50m on consultancy fees' and 'Collaboration and poor governance at
RSA'.
We've learnt that two out of eight documents concerning the
bank guarantee are missing. For those in the Department of Finance who struggle
with maths, that's 25% of the documents. Pretty impressive by any standards and
indicates that when these trials and tribunals actually start, they will be
littered with statements such as 'I can't remember', 'the files are not
available' or the classic 'it wasn't me'. Already it reeks of cover up with
criminal cases starting this year!
In RSA (Royal Sun Alliance) headquarters, Price Waterhouse
Coopers (PWC) were commissioned to write a report into the losses at their
Irish counterpart. In short, the report could not have been better written if
RSA had written it themselves. Ask yourself one simple question 'How much do
PWC receive in fees from RSA worldwide each and every year? How much do they
expect to earn in the future?'. The number is far from inconsequential. The
report focuses on the collaboration of certain members of staff in Dublin and
poor governance at the Irish subsidiary. Sound familiar? It’s easy to pick on
the runt of the litter but governance is something that both policy and
execution is set from the top. Suggesting that one spoke of the wheel acted
independently is no longer acceptable. This is pure whitewash and scapegoating
in the name of the on-going harmonious relationship between RSA and PWC.
Remember Arthur Andersen, Enron and Worldcom, conflict of interest is
everywhere!
Irish Water have spent €50m on consultancy fees! Very nice
work if you can get it, but rest assure you couldn't get anywhere near it. It’s
nothing short of a cartel, the banking, insurance, government, consultancy
network is far from independent. Why would it be, as the jobs get passed around
in the corridors of power, no one is going to rock the boat. It has always been
the case and will likely not change in the future, usual suspects and jobs for
the boys.
We are where we are
because of practises such as this in the past. What’s the appetite for
change like? I'd suggest its huge outside of Dublin 4, not even under
consideration there.
Where's the next cover up? Lawrence Tomlinson has written
one of the most damning reports into modern day banking. It is bang on the money. The abuses contained
therein, as there really is no other word for them, are highlighted as being
systematic and institutional, not good when you think that a subsidiary of the
main bank operates widely on these shores. Lawrence is one of the two
Entrepreneurs in Residence at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills
in the UK. The most important area of his work has been access to finance and
specifically why the banking environment was having a negative impact on many
businesses. In carrying out his investigations he became aware of the often
brutal way in which finance was being removed from business' by their banks and
the devastating impact of this. A trend soon arose in respect to Royal Bank of
Scotland's Global Restructuring Group (GRG) that lead to the publication of the
Tomlinson report last November. An investigation has now started into these
activities.
Hopefully this investigation remains independent. If not,
don't worry RBS have initiated their own review. You'll find it in the Fiction
part of any good book shop, it should be hilarious!
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