Banks are going cheap these days.
Just over a year after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) bought ABN Amro for GBP 61bn (USD91bn) the British Government has stepped in and bought 58% of the combined banks for GBP15bn (US24bn). An additional £5bn (US$8bn) of preference shares will also be injected.
The purchase of shares agreed last month with the UK Government means that the bank is technically nationalised.
Whether the technical nationalisation will result in effective control will really depend on the Government’s ability to resist the temptation to meddle.
It is unfair, but hindsight makes a poor jury of us all.
It is grossly unfair to blame a retail banker in Britain for the woes of the world that were essentially triggered by the arrogance and greed of global investment bankers and the stupidity of American mortgage lenders.
Paying so much for a Dutch bank was a mistake… but it was not the mistake that brought the world to this crisis.