Just When You Thought It Was All Over...

[threegee]

'We haven't sought nor do we need government support.'

http://www.dailymail...-boss-quit.html

Haven't we been here before with Northern Rock? That's more or less what the silly b***h (lady director) told us a few days before all hell broke lose! "There will be no devaluation" etc. etc. - in finance if you need to say it loudly then likely the reverse is true. We called her bluff then and were right. This time I hope we are very very wrong as it's a far bigger fish and the Co-op Bank directors couldn't possibly be as thick as the local twits that ran Northern Rock!

They were on the radio a couple of weeks back implying the the Lloyds Bank branches purchase was a near done deal then we hear it has fallen through. No more surprises, please! The real problem with this bad-news-in-easy-installments sort of thing is that it kills confidence in the entire system as people wonder what other loses aren't being admitted to, and where they might be.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Sounded like something was up.

I hope not, the Co Op weren't into doing 125% self certificated loans using fractal banking were they or did they just buy a shed-full?

I thought their constitution might have stopped them?

[threegee]

...were they or did they just buy a shed-full?...

Mainly the second. They bought Britannia in 2009, and it seems the vendors did a great job of offloading their questionable loan book on commercial properties. So, in a fair world the gongs should go to Britannia directors for "services to their shareholders"! Pity Lindsay Anderson wasn't still around, a sequel to Britannia Hospital would be a classic!

What is interesting is the way the Beeb are handling this. They haven't gagged Robert Peston but they kept the matter well out of the headlines. Doesn't take too much imagination to work out what may have been going on behind the scenes there, or indeed in government generally.

[Malcolm Robinson]

I think the whole of the MSM are woefully behind on matters financial.

I keep gagging when I listen to Peston, his inflections are just way too out of sync for me. For someone in an audiovisual industry?????

[Malcolm Robinson]

Just looked in on a couple of financial Forums and the CO-OP has been getting hammered for quite some time for hopeless business banking and useless internet banking. Taking on another 600 branches would probably have turned them over anyway if they haven't got their current business model right.

And that's before anyone looks at their debt to asset figures, but then we would just expect another bout of BoE QE thrown in their direction!

[Maggie/915]

On the Dept to Asset figures. I think the PFI initiatives and the dept to us the taxpayers could bring us all down.

At the moment the private equities are in a win win situation. No risk, the British Taxpayer pays, locally and nationally.

Wansbeck hospital,I believe, thought about a buy back and the figures were truly astounding.

[Malcolm Robinson]

It used to be called the 'never never' Maggie coz you never owned the thing and you never stopped paying for it!

And we had a £20M PFI Bedlingtonshire High School to look forward to. Might not be quite so plain sailing now!

http://www.journallive.co.uk/northumberland-sites/bedlington-northumberland/bedlington-news/2013/03/27/bedlington-and-alnwick-new-build-schools-delayed-until-2016-61634-33066961/

And wasn't one of our recent election candidates claiming credit for getting the money for this one sorted!

[Maggie/915]

It is the Never Never, that has changed everyone.

Why save money, everyone,from students upwards, gets into dept with , often no way of paying the money back.

It is the government policy.

If you save, somewhere you are going to be made to pay.

[Reedy]

I left Bedlington High in 1978 and remember that while I was there I did a sponsored swim, along with loads of other pupils,of about 1 mile to raise funds for the building of a swimming pool on the site.n The pool was never built and I always wondereed what happened to the cash raised.

The school would have made a great site for a new sports centre instead of all the cash being diverted to Ashington as usual.

[Maggie/915]

If you can, listen to Show of Hands, 'Arrogance Ignorance and Greed.'

It is a swipe at bankers bonuses and MPs inventive expenses.

'Your on your Yacht, we 'r on our knees'

'Dealt yourselves a winning hand, loaded every dice'

'Those with something put aside are the ones that you betrayed'

'Pray we will someday be free of your avarice incompetence and your arrogance, your ignorance and greed.'

[threegee]

Euan Sutherland, the new chief executive of the Co-op, confirmed that Co-op Bank had stopped making loans to new customers as it looked for ways to raise new capital.

Slightly different tune from "We haven't sought nor do we need government support." - this week?

"This decision is part of our commercial strategy to play to the traditional strengths of the bank,” said Mr Sutherland. Ah yes, good commercial strategy for a bank not to make loans, very traditional and showing strength too. Still, a new crisis CEO has to say something reassuring, pity it couldn't be more honest like: We screwed up big-time with a huge error of judgement, but things aren't bad enough to threaten our continued existence. And, with the support of our loyal customers, I'm confident we are going to weather this sticky patch in our history. Generally BS says as BS does!