RBS workers recall ‘nasty’ meetings over bank’s demise
Documentary charts the rise and dramatic fall of Scottish bank
Former employees of the Royal Bank of Scotland reveal the ‘dirt’ on notorious leader Fred “The Shred” Goodwin in a new documentary charting the rise and shocking fall of the Edinburgh-based bank.
A decade after the bank’s spectacular success story nosedived overnight, industry experts, journalists, politicians and colleagues explain the culture and terrifying moments under Mr Goodwin’s six-year reign in the hour-long programme.
Former RBS executive Cameron Mcphail says in the documentary: “Morning meetings, he turned them into morning beatings. A lot of people were taken to task in front of their peers. On some occasions they really did get quite personal and quite nasty.
“I may have suffered slight post traumatic stress disorder. I wasn’t in a war, though it felt like a war sometimes.”
The dramatic financial thriller will be shown on BBC Two on Tuesday and is set over 24 hours interwoven with the extraordinary story of how a small Scottish bank grew to become the biggest in the world.
Testimonies also come from Alistair Darling, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had to sign the final bailout deal in 2008 of £50 billion.
“I had to sign it off, literally sign it off,” he said. “I remember sitting overlooking St James Park in Central London just as it was getting light and thought ‘this is a historic moment here’.”
On 7 October – the day RBS’ share price plummeted more than 30 per cent – he recalled RBS chairman Sir Tom Mckillop shouting: “We are haemorrhaging cash. What are you going to do about it?”
Colleagues also give a brutal assessment of what it was like to work for Mr Goodwin in the days of relentless acquisition and multi-billion pound deals.
Iain Harrison, former RBS head of finance and resources in group communications, said: “He created a fear and blame culture, which I don’t think helped RBS in the slightest. I haven’t met anyone in RBS who actually liked him.”
The programme explores Mr Goodwin’s meteoric rise from unknown accountant to running one of Britain’s largest banks in detail, including his pivotal role in the hostile takeover of the much larger Natwest bank in 2000, which stunned the City of London.
The acquisition – the largest in British banking history – set out the blueprint for Mr Goodwin and RBS’S ascent to the top of the competitive world of international banking. The ten-year anniversary of RBS’ financial crash is tomorrow week.
fiona.pringle@jpress.co.uk