ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAD: A FEW MORE MILES TO GO
CHAPTER 1: ABSTRACT
History says that all around the world, the Royal Bank of Scotland was considered as the largest and the leading player in the financial sector. But things started to change from 2007. A year later, the 2008 world recession shook the very strong global financial sector of United Kingdom. The then CEO of the bank Sir Fred Goodwin, was considered solely responsible for the fall of the bank which started with the decision to acquire ABN-Amro Bank.
This Case Based Report’s objective is to study the fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The report aims to analyse in great detail the various factors whose cumulative efforts resulted in the fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland. This report mentions the judgement errors and the adverse actions of the bank management which led to the collapse of the bank in the time of general economic crisis.
Keywords: Royal Bank of Scotland, the Great Recession, ABN-Amro Bank
CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGORUND OF THE STUDY
The Royal Bank of Scotland is a large international bank providing financial services. It was founded in 1727. It has its headquarters in Edinburg, United Kingdom. With the formation of Royal Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s monopoly was broken. It was the only bank which was providing financial services in the country at that time.
With the merger of Royal Bank of Scotland and National Commercial Bank of Scotland in 1969, Royal Bank of Scotland
These “bank runs” caused even more banks to close down, and by the end of the decade, around 9,000 banks had to close down. The surviving ones became skeptical of loans and were not willing
In order to control the situation they rush to create the Second National Bank of United States (BUS). As a result of the inflation and large debt the President Madison signed a bill authorizing the Second National Bank of United States in 1816 with a charter lasting 20 years. The creation of the National Bank was a better option than waiting for any other private bank system to solve the situation. The second Bank of the United States had a higher position and a bigger power considering the state-chartered private banks. One of the biggest advantages was that they were allowed to open branches in any states, another important vantage was that they had larger and more trustable resources.
The first National Bank of the United States was highly unpopular because many people believed that Congress had no power create something like that. When the bank charter expired, everyone relaxed and forgot about that idea. In 1816, another bank was set up because of the War of 1812. The second National Bank was even more detested and this time, individual states tried to resist it. One of the states was Maryland
When the charter expired, the Congress did not renew it. In 1816, President Madison signed the bill that authorized the Second Bank of the United States which lasted for 20 years, this one also was not renewed. There was no central bank for 75 years until the Federal Reserve passed in 1913.During that time, there was no regulations which resulted in many conflicts. The Free Banking Era, as many people call it, allowed anyone to open a bank with minimum requirements. State- chartered and unchartered banks started issuing their own notes making
Many banks had collapsed or were substantially injured as the result of Black Tuesday. But it did have a little impact (Nash 334-336). The National Credit Corporation was composed of the major banks in the United States. NCC’s main goal was lending money to small banks in the United States in order to minimize the repercussions of the smaller bank’s crash. However the major banks did not want to lend money to the smaller banks because they were having problems themselves (Nash 336-337).
What happened to all the banks then? Well first off people had complete trust in them, that is until the stock market crashed. Banks had invested a lot of money in the stock market also. But when it crashed they lost it all and
Beginning with bank reform, the New Dealers were able to maintain oversight in the banking industry, which had previously been an unregulated and unpredictable source of capital. The Glass-Steagal Act and the Emergency Banking Act signaled a shift from a lassiez faire approach to the banking industry to one that ensured banks were making responsible loans and not gambling with depositor’s savings in the stock market. By not allowing banks who were considered “irresponsible’ to reopen and separating the savings and investment functions of the banks, a more secure system began to emerge. The impact of this legislation was immediate, as bank failures dropped dramatically. Additionally, major breakdowns in the banking industry were avoided until fairly recently, which came as a result of the repeal of Glass-Steagal.
Depositors lost all the money stored in that bank. Because of this, consumers spent small amounts of money, which threatened many businesses. Meanwhile, farmers and factories were responsible for the overproduction of goods. Customers’ money was lost
This shows that overnight panics can be the initial catalyst for longer economic downturns. The panic of 1907 shows further links between financial distress and failure among financial intermediaries specifically trust companies, and the poor performance of the nonfinancial firms that depended on them for loans and other financial services. This shows that there needed to be some form of a central bank to help mitigate these panics. More importantly the panic of 1907 had many severe effects, “industrial output fell 17% in 1908, and real GNP fell by 12%”
Linda Alchin says that the Panic of 1837 was a “crisis in financial and economical conditions in the nation following changes in the banking system.” Andrew Jackson thought that the bank had too much power and economical and political influence on the people(The Andrew Jackson Top 10 List). Of course the bank would have some influence and power, it’s a bank... Destroying the national bank was a bad move on Jackson, making profits,prices, and wages go down as unemployment goes up so says Linda Alchin. The writer of u-s-history.com says that ,”banks throughout the country failed;mortgages were foreclosed, forcing people out of their homes and off their farms.”
Although there are many aspects to the Great Depression, this essay will focus on five important points. First, an in depth look at the cause of the Great Depression will be examined. Then, how it affected the American people will be discussed. Next, an observation of how President Roosevelt’s administration worked to fix the Great Depression will be addressed. Also, the effectiveness of the programs put in place by the government will be presented.
The Great Depression The Great Depression 1929-39 was the deepest and longest-lasting economic crash in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States. The Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929 which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors and nearby businesses.
In response to a need to provide transportation nation-wide, focusing on providing access to remote and sparsely populated areas of the country. The Bank of Canada was created as a private company through the Bank of Canada Act in 1934 and subsequently nationalized as a Crown corporation in 1938 (‘Meeting’, 2005, p.9). The essential role of the Bank, as Canada's central Bank, is to "promote the economic and financial well-being of Canada." (Bank of Canada). Therefore the Bank operates in the interest of Canada as a whole and not as an extension of the will of the government.
Banking system is essential in our economics to maintain an effective circulation of money. The bank has functions for regulation of currency to aid strong economy. Distribution of the money is crucial to promote construction of the nation and prevention of bankruptcies. In our modern economic structure is supported and developed by the banking system. However, there was a period that the national bank was shut down by the government the consequence of the bank war.
In Addition to maldistribution stood the credit structure of the economy, some farmers were in deep land mortgage debt, so they lowered their crop prices in order to regain credit, and because the farmers were no longer accountable for what they owed banks. Across the nation the banking system found themselves in constant trouble. In America both small and large bankers were concerned for their survival, so they began investing recklessly in stock markets and granting unwise loans. These unconscious decisions would lead a large consequence, such as families losing their life savings and their deposits became uninsured. “ More than 9,000 American banks either went bankrupt or closed their doors to avoid bankruptcy between 1930 and 1933.”Although