Fred Goodwin loses knighthood in the ultimate banker bashing
Wednesday, 01 February 2012 09:14
The former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin is to be stripped of his knighthood in recognition of the “the scale and severity of the impact of his actions as CEO of RBS,” according to a Cabinet Office spokesman.
Fred Goodwin, as he will now be known joins an unwelcome list that includes the Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and former dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu in being stripped of his knighthood.
Mr Goodwin was informed of the decision at 3pm yesterday by the head of the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake.
Many leading business man and commentators have accused the government of making the former head of RBS a scapegoat. However, a quick trawl of message boards shows that it appears to be welcomed by the average UK taxpayer.
The decision comes amidst public anger and outrage over the award of bonuses to bankers. Mr Goodwin’s successor as chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester was awarded a share bonus worth £963,000 which he subsequently turned down.
Mr Goodwin took over at RBS and led the bank to record profits in the early part of the last decade. He gained his moniker of “Fred the shred” in part because of his policy of stripping down parts of the banks business, his aggressive acquisitions and reduction in staff numbers.
His policies eventually led to the ill-fated acquisition of Dutch bank, ABN Amro, months before the financial crash led to the fall of RBS and the requirement of a £45 billion bailout from the UK taxpayer.
Mr Goodwin angered the public further by insisting he should keep his pension, worth £650,000 a year. This was later reduced to £342,500.
The Queen was informed on Sunday of the decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood which he received in 2004 after it was decided that he had “brought the honours system into disrepute.”
The decision was made by the forfeiture committee which is made up of senior civil servants.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Chancellor George Osborne both welcomed the decision.
However business leaders warned that politicians were in danger of creating anti business sentiment. In the past only convicted criminals and individuals who have been struck off professional bodies have had their knighthoods taken away.
The decision leads to the question of whether other individuals who have been awarded honours but were heavily involved in the banking crisis should be stripped of their honours.
A spokesman from the Cabinet Office said: "The scale and severity of the impact of his actions as CEO of RBS made this an exceptional case.
"Widespread concern about Fred Goodwin's decisions meant that the retention of a knighthood for 'services to banking' could not be sustained.
"The FSA report into what went wrong at RBS made clear where the failures lay and who was responsible.”
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