Posted on 03/08/2009 7:42:30 PM PDT by marshmallow
Eric Daniels and Sir Victor Blank took Britain’s safest bank and turned it into a basketcase – and left the taxpayer on the hook too
Eric Daniels’s facade slipped only for a moment, and then when it was least expected. At a low-key speech to a breakfast organised by a Jewish charity last Monday, the American chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group was clearly fighting back tears as he spoke in his distinctive, gravelly drawl.
Daniels, 57, renowned for his Buddha-like calm, was under extreme pressure. He was in the middle of a desperate fight to stop the government taking control of his bank. If he failed, he and his chairman, the City grandee Sir Victor Blank, would forever be remembered as the men who steered Lloyds, the pride of British banking, onto the rocks.
Excusing himself for not being able to talk about the battle with the Treasury, Daniels spoke instead about his career.
He had once worked for the US bank Citigroup in Latin America and employed a local man called Cristobal, who had blossomed under his tutelage. Daniels’ eyes misted when he recalled his Panamanian protégé, and he wiped away a tear.
Any tears Daniels might shed this weekend would not be the result of the wistful recollection of success, but more likely of abject failure.
On Friday, he and Blank lost their fight. After days of fractious negotiations, the government took majority ownership of Lloyds in return for insuring it against future losses on £260 billion of toxic loans.
In October Blank and Daniels had spotted their chance to seize control of HBOS, which was on the verge of collapse. Gordon Brown acted as midwife to the deal, promising that competition rules would be waived to allow the merger to go ahead. A new titan of the...........
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
And how much did they pocket for wrecking their bank?
After next months bankster meeting in London the entire banking industry may decide to reneg on the obligations to counterparties on collaterized debt securities and related swaps. They just cannot meet the obligations.
Seems to me the headline should be something more like “The Latest Men To Break a Bank.”
Poor Nick Leeson went to all that trouble and is forgotten in just... well, just 14 years.
I bought this loser a couple years ago around its peak (mid 40s) because it had a nice yield. Within a few months I started hearing rumors of some kind of investigation here in the U.S.
I bailed with a profit of something like 30 cents a share. Probably one of my wisest investment decisions ever.
Citi is mentioned—go figure.
Do you think we’ll ever find out what Bob Rubin did for his money at Citi? I doubt Bawney will bring him before his committee, and Reich couldn’t even mention him by name.
Sounds like they managed it well, only to throw it all away with one bad acquisition. Not an uncommon pattern...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.