Financial giants to their knees’
Gordon Brown has harsh words for disgraced EX-RBS chief Fred Goodwin headquarters” at Gogarburn on the outskirts of Edinburgh as being “the size of a small village” with cafes, auditoriums, a swimming pool and even space for a golf course at the back.
Mr Goodwin, who was stripped of a knighthood, was a “self-made man” who Mr Brown first knew as an accountant involved in privatising the Rosyth dockyard. But Mr Brown said: “Over the years I saw him change. By the time the bank collapsed he had from his company a private suite in the Savoy costing £700,000 a year, a fleet of 12 chauffeurdriven Mercedes limousines with RBS emblazoned all over them, and he regularly used a private jet at the weekend – whether for boar hunting in Spain or following the glamorous F1 circuit around the world.
“Every year £1m was paid out to each of RBS’S ‘global ambassadors’, including Sir Jackie Stewart, Jack Nicklaus (whose image was on one of the bank’s commemorative £5 notes), and Andy Murray (who, to his credit, would volunteer a cut in his payment) as part of an estimated £200m sponsorship budget.”
And the fatal takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro was undertaken without the “necessary checks” that would have revealed it was riddled with sub-prime debts. “With too little capital in the first place, funding was about to dry up,” Mr Brown added. “Yet at no point did I ever hear Fred Goodwin express real contrition to me – or to anyone else – for his role in the bank’s collapse.” Multi-award-winning equity release specialist Age Partnership can help homeowners decide if equity release is right for them, how much they can release and what impact it could have on the size of their estate including their entitlement to means-tested benefits now, or in the future. Any money released, plus accrued interest would be repaid upon death, or moving into long-term care. Equity Release may involve a home reversion plan or a lifetime mortgage which is secured against your property. To understand the features and risks, ask for your personalised illustration. They provide initial advice for free and without obligation. Only if you choose to proceed and your case completes would a typical fee of 2.2% of the amount released be payable. You only continue to own your own home with a lifetime mortgage.