I slept rough on the streets too, £1.8m banker tells protester
(...even if it was only ONE night)
A £1.8 MILLION-A-YEAR bank boss astonished a businessman on hunger strike by using his own experience of sleeping out at a homeless charity event to identify with his plight.
Clydesdale Bank chief executive David Duffy told former property entrepreneur John Guidi, who had been camping in protest outside the lender’s Glasgow HQ for five days, that he had found even one night in freezing conditions ‘very difficult’.
It is understood he was referring to a Sleep in the Park event, organised by Social Bite in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens in December 2017.
At a meeting on Friday, Mr Duffy urged the 63-year-old, who was made bankrupt and faces eviction from his home of 30 years, to drop his protest while the bank looks at his claim of being mis-sold £10 million of loans.
Mr Guidi, from Bothwell, Lanarkshire, who has been fighting for redress for more than six years, said: ‘I was surprised to hear Mr Duffy say he had spent a night out for charity and he’d found it very, very difficult. He said he would ask me not to continue to sleep out, with the possibility of making myself unwell.
‘I’ve agreed to do so until Friday. Otherwise I will be back in my tent.’
The Scottish Mail on Sunday highlighted Mr Guidi’s plight last week and the case reached the Commons.
Nationalist MP Angela Crawley is urging the UK Government to enable an independent financial tribunal to resolve his dispute.
Treasury minister John Glen has agreed to meet Ms Crawley to discuss her concerns that hundreds of UK business people have faced ruin because of ‘abusive treatment by lenders and vulture funds’.
At the time of the alleged wrongdoing, Clydesdale Bank, now part of CYBG, which includes Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money, was owned by the National Australia Bank.
Mr Guidi claims that, in 2012, the bank told him it had stepped back from commercial property loans and he must repay his debt at the end of its term. However, after the financial crisis, no other lender would help and he was left owing £10 million.
In 2015, CYBG sold his loans to an arm of US private equity giant Cerberus. Mr Guidi said the new lender put his company into receivership and sold its properties.
Due to a guarantee given to the Clydesdale, with whom he had banked since 1998, he faces losing the home he shares with wife Ingrid, 49.
Mr Guidi, whose firm had annual revenues of £800,000 and owned 150 properties, said: ‘A hunger strike has created so much bad publicity I hope the bank will finally listen.’
MPs have asked the City watchdog to stop banks hounding indebted business customers after The Mail on Sunday revealed that an entrepreneur was going on hunger strike over the scandal.
Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake has written to the Financial Conduct Authority requesting a ‘moratorium’ that would prevent banks and debt collectors from chasing small firms through the courts if they are waiting for complaints against lenders to be examined.
The plea from Hollinrake, who cochairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Business Banking, comes after ruined property investor John Guidi, 63, camped outside the offices of his bank on hunger strike last week. Guidi, who faces eviction from his home, claims he was mis-sold £10million of loans by Clydesdale Bank.
The APPG estimates that Guidi is one of 60,000 entrepreneurs who may have legitimate compensation claims against banks under a dispute resolution scheme that is due to launch in September.
The scheme, run by banking industry body UK Finance, will deal with historic cases – dating back to 2008 – in which entrepreneurs feel they are owed compensation for treatment at the hands of their banks.
Hollinrake and other MPs are concerned that potential victims are suffering ‘further damage’ ahead of their cases being considered because banks and other firms are pursuing their debts.
In Guidi’s case, his debt has been sold by Clydesdale Bank owner CYBG to an arm of Cerberus, a US private equity giant. Guidi blames CYBG for the collapse of his empire – which at its peak boasted 150 properties and annual revenues of £800,000 – and wants his former bank to step in and help him. He claims Clydesdale bankers missold him £10million worth of loans and then abruptly withdrew funding, leading to a crisis for his business. With Cerberus now chasing his debts, Guidi faces imminent eviction from his home of 30 years. In a bid to persuade CYBG boss David Duffy to intervene, Guidi embarked on his hunger strike outside the bank’s Glasgow offices last week. He put the protest on hold after four days to travel down to London for a meeting with Duffy.
Guidi said: ‘I am convinced that David Duffy is genuinely concerned about my plight. Our negotiations were constructive and I hope they will continue in that way in the next week. As a result I am suspending my hunger strike further to Friday, March 29.’
Guidi’s protest led to a Parliamentary debate last Tuesday, when City Minister John Glen was grilled on his plight and the troubles of other entrepreneurs.
Angela Crawley, Guidi’s local MP, said: ‘This tragic case brings attention to the vulnerability of UK businesses to abusive treatment by lenders and vulture funds, and the inadequacy of current regulation in preventing it. Sadly, John is not alone.’
Hollinrake last night told The Mail on Sunday he was hopeful Guidi’s case could help persuade the FCA to intervene and stop banks from chasing the debts of entrepreneurs with outstanding complaints.
He added: ‘John has done everyone a great service. It shows the desperation and real anger [of entrepreneurs]. As a consequence of John’s particular case, we’ve been able to highlight issues in Parliament, which has helped escalate the issue to a position where people will start doing something about it.’