Sunday, 12 January 2014

NOTHING HAS CHANGED - JOBS FOR THE BOYS!


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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