Wednesday 9 January 2013

Hector Sant's should not accept his New Year Honour

Did not find time to re the the New year's Honours list for businessmen last week, espcially when the real interest seemed to be on how many athletes were given more baubles to go with their gold ones from the summer.

One though does really stand out, as the Telegraph mentioned at the time. Hector Sants, now on a packet at Barclays, has been knighted for this services to "Financial Serices and Regulation." Quite what these services are has to be written to be believed.

Hector Sants ran the FSA before and during the Financial crisis. He has some lovely lines used int he past, such as he had no power to stop the RBS-ABN deal, despite being head of the regulatory approval body. but as a reader writes in, there are other scandals too, such as the that of the PPI claims.

This has become a multi-billion sore for the banks and was an unprecedented rip-off of consumers, with profits fo 80%  for issuing companies. Complaints were being made and upheld as far back as 2005 - but the FSA did nothing until well into the Financial Crisis, preferring to ignore their own criteria of 'Treating Customers Fairly.' It hardly smacks of firm or even competent regulation.

The whole 2008 disaster wwas fuelled by mis-applied regulation and greedy bankers, to make the man in charge of this a Knight of the Realm is another sick example of the powerful looking after their own. Perhaps Mr Sants knows where too many of the bodies are buried.

The final piece of the cake is for him to declare that HIS knighthood is a recognition for ALL the staff at the FSA for their hard work. This is a David Brentism of the first order - he mustsurely realise how terribly crass this sounds.

There is a rather lonely e-petition attempting to get the Government to change its mind, but I doubt this will go anywhere. Hector Sants regards himself as a man of honour, perhs the right way forward is for him to humbly refuse his bauble?

11 comments:

Nick Drew said...

you have been very restrained, CU

jeez ...

Jan said...

They are no longer worth anything and most people know it so not worth getting worked up about. I'm more concerned about the money.

Blue Eyes said...

In other news, I hear Lord Haw Haw is to be awarded posthumously the Victoria Cross.

Budgie said...

Sants humble? I don't think so.

He should be unemployable, and unemployed, if not in jail. He is an example of those at the very top protecting their own.

I am not the first to mention this, but we appear to be having an institutions crisis. The BBC, nurses, MPs, banks, social workers, CAGW scientists, the police, the FSA all seem to be corrupt to a greater or lesser extent.

Anonymous said...

In a similar vein to what BE was saying; my Russian next door neighbour expressed great surprise at the state of English society. She thought she was coming to a country which exemplified all the traditional virtues of fair play, honesty and decency, only to discover that everyone was on the make...

Anonymous said...

Correction, I do believe I meant Budgie (apologies all).

(these captchas certainly are better than sudoku!)

Jer said...

Budgie.

Yep.

Also the Unions.

Mind you, the judiciary have been suspect ever since acquiting Jeffrey Archer (arguably Jeremy Thorpe, but I hardly remember that.
I was still shocked when the cash for honours investigation failed to score a hit though.

Nick Drew said...

Epitaph for Sants and his regime

read and weep

Sackerson said...

Give him the K and take away his Barclays job. The FSA has recently regulated me and many other IFAs out of the business, leaving the way clear for the banks (the banks!) to offer financial advice (financial advice!) to their hapless customers.

James Higham said...

He has some lovely lines used int he past

Services to creativity?

Liberal Engineering said...

Knighthoods wont be the same after Fred the Shred and Jimmy Saville.

If Sants is getting one for services to banking and finance, maybe Harald Shipman should get one posthumously for services to Geriatric care in the community....

(apologies, bit below the belt but anything is possible these days)