Who should run banks

Who should run banks


My latest at Pieria considers who should run banks, in the light of the recent Co-Op Bank disaster:"The hapless Paul Flowers, former chairman of the Co-Op Bank, has beenarrested and charged with possessionof Class A drugs. The Flowers problem comes at the end of a simply horrible year for the Co-Op, in which it was forced to withdraw its bid to take on the TSB part of Lloyds TSB, its credit rating was downgraded to junk by Moody's and the PRA imposed capital requirements on it that it was unable to meet. It admitted in its half-year accounts that it was bust and proposed a recapitalisation plan that would have stiffed 15,000 grannies, only to see it trumped by two hedge funds who made the grannies a better offer - thereby presenting the world with the extraordinary spectacle of a group of vulturesappearing considerably friendlierthan the supposedly cuddly teddy bear that is the Co-Operative Group. "I don't intend to comment on Mr. Flowers's behaviour. Thenews reportsspeak forthemselves. Though forme, the best bit was discovering that he had beenchairman of a drugs charity. You couldn't make it up."However, it is not Mr. Flowers's alleged criminal activities that are the main problem, nor his exorbitant expense claims, nor even his religious hypocrisy (he is a senior Methodist minister). No, the main problem ishis incompetence. Among other things, in his presentation to the Treasury Select Committee he appeared to have no grasp whatsoever of the figures pertaining to the business he had been running.Jeremy Hunt asked on BBC Question Time:"How did someone with no knowledge of banking become chairman of a bank?" "
Read on here.