Dispatches

Comments

1. Why cannot these bankers be subject to more scrutiny with regard to their grossly excessive pay and pension packages? Every one of my friends and relatives are incensed with the unfairnness of these payments to these men who failed to act responsibly and why cannot some form of action be taken to bring some justice to reflect their contribution to the current state of our economy!

   Posted by Barrie Smith on 22/05/2009 12:01:15

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2. I am normally a fan of Dispatches but I am of the opinion that this episode was ironically 'cheap', tabloid inspired, one sided jounalism. I appreciate that to the average person it seems that these individuals get paid is a huge amount of money. However, you do realise that in other professions salaries can be very large - these salaries are not all that much more than what an equity partner in a magic circle law firm earns. However, the difference in responsibility is huge. The consequencies of how you run a bank so much more important - as we have seen! I appreciate as things went very wrong the bankers dont deserve the remuneration, however, the focus of the report needed to be more on what they did wrong with some reference to the salaries not the other way around.

   Posted by Rob55 on 21/05/2009 00:48:52

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3. Dear fellow commenters; If any of you have a pension or an insurance policy, ISA or some kind of savings product which invests in shares then it is your fund managers who have to share the blame for not keeping an eye on their shares closely enough. Before you buy another financial product ask about their ethical investment, CSR, ESG or voting policy. If they don't have one then don't buy their product. If you have a pension fund, ask your trustees what their investment policy is and did they vote on any of the bank pay packages? It isn't just up to government to look after our assets, they're ours first, government second. Otherwise - as RBS shows - it will only go the other way round

   Posted by Cassandra on 19/05/2009 19:33:33

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4. Jane, Fantastic programme last night!First class journalism,need more of this quality of exposure.This programme should be used for training young bankers and indeed could be used for all top level business persons about getting honesty, fairness and integrity into the executive mindset.This documentary should be viewed by MPs. currently. I thought ,as an ex-director of an engineering business, that the law was quite far reaching relating to Directors accountablity and resposibilities,so why can't this area be used as the legal process by which they can be made finacially and ethically accountable to the shareholders and 'Joe' public. Once again thanks for a very informative documentary. Will you be following this up later? Regards, Keith

   Posted by Keith Morris on 19/05/2009 16:39:43

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5. Again, this was a great Dispatches! Congratulations to the team. WELL DONE!!! But how can we let banker AND politicians go on like this? How can we stop them? Or better, how can we get our money back? The film also showed the powerlessness of the public. Do we have to go on the streets again, get beaten until we can beat them back? From the start of all this bailouts we knew this is a secret conspiracy between bankers and politicians to access the last financial resources of the people. Now, once they are used up, it is down to us to fill them up with a lot of work, savings and no income. The whole noise happened only because the downturn started to endanger the top bankers' incomes, bonuses and pensions. Now, once these are secured (with our help) they will keep living happy-forever-after.

   Posted by anita makris on 19/05/2009 13:43:06

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6. The un-healty collusion between politicians and the banking system - part of which is the 'fractional reserve' system whereby bankers are legally franchised to create money from nothing and charge interest thereon is at the root of the problem. This system benfits bankers then politicians and finally occasionally 'we the people'. Bankers thrive on boom and bust, and when all else fails can rely on bailout from the politicians they control. Forget the cult of the personality with your discussion of bonuses and knighthoods, get to the rotten heart of the problem. JF Kennedy tried to sort it out and look what happened to him.

   Posted by Adam Graindorge on 19/05/2009 11:30:33

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7. Dear Jane Moore and Dispatches team, Thanks for trying to hold the unaccountable to account. Keep trying. Don't give up. As our elected representatives have abdicated this responsibility (too busy fiddling their expenses), we rely on the fourth estate to represent us. I am very, very angry about the culture of deception and impunity at the heart of our economic and political system, but feel powerless to influence it. So, it's great to see you having a go. Thanks and good luck, Chris

   Posted by Christopher Thornton on 19/05/2009 08:41:08

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8. Speaking as former banker (modestly paid) who has recently been made redundant due to issues not related to my performance in the job, I can say that yes there is a great deal of sensationalist journalism around this subject. However, senior bankers and directors have been extraordinarily well paid for some time now within a sales based culture which has been fed by poor regulation from the government and a lack of responsibility from those directors - the fin servs system (banks) is unique in that banks are interdependent upon each other - i.e. if half of them stop lending so do the rest out of fear or sheep mentality. HBOS was the start of the sales culture which spread quickly to RBS/Natwest - no surprise they are the 2 biggest failures. This started in around 2000 when lending "hockey sticked" (graph term) and all bankers were incentivised to "sell". The old disciplines of credit worthiness and long term relationships were binned. We will survive this but the property market will not wholly recover and we will be repaying the debt for 10-15yrs. There needs to be tighter regulation of bank lending, better Basel II / Sarbanes Oxley governance of how much capital banks set aside to meet their potential obligations / liabilities and independent remuneration committees to look at bankers pay packages. Hundreds of thousands of people work in this industry in this country and their interests must be placed above the previous buccaneer style of growth and agressive expansion of the banking sector.

   Posted by PHIL on 19/05/2009 01:47:20

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9. People must realise that it was the primary fault of the masses for demanding credit which they could inherently not balance, the banks and indeed the top dogs were just meeting this demand as any natural market would do. Also, it would be entirely hypocritical for a nation to blame the recession on those people who created that financial technology which we were all far too happy to benefit from during the run up to the bust. It is all far too easy to commence a witch hunt targeting the bank bosses but we must realise that they had no clue of the dangers of the new financial technologies, if they did do you really think they would drive there own banks into the ground and themselves out of a job? I feel that at the end of the day, people must recognise their own shortcomings at these time and I assure you those ex-bank bosses are doing just that. It is those people who have foreclosed on those mortgages which they should have realised they couldn't afford who are most vehement in their attacks of the bankers. Jane Moore did nothing to give a balanced argument or indeed to inform about where the true blame lay, she simply relied upon people's ignorance and pushed the band wagon that had already got far too carried away with itself.

   Posted by Dan Bell on 18/05/2009 22:26:20

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10. the programme was fun, but have to say that I think its was fairly close to tabloid trash journalism. The whole premise was based on cashing in on bashing bankers and playing to the 'man in the street' I completely object to this programme aiming to speak on my behalf in this manner. I've no issues with the losses I've suffered on RBS & Lloyds banking shares as it was my choice to buy them, and I knew the risks. Anyone who is foolish enough to put all their eggs into one basket e.g. Northen Rock shares shouldn't be investing in shares, as any sensible investor would tell you to diversify. Otherwise its nothing more than greed at the potential profits. We know there was bad practice in the banks, but lets look sensibly at some of these points. Points which were't made clear in the programme. - big salaries at nationalised banks. While I think they are still high, the fact is that salaries need to reflect what other organisations pay. If they don't complete, people will simply drift off to other banks. Then these banks simple become even more poorly performing. For example, the comments about Gary Hoffmans salary simple ignore the fact he was a highly successul and well paid exec at Barclays, and it would take a big salary to get him to take on the Northern Rock role. - the loans question, people seem to forget while banks were prepared to lend money, there was no shortage of people prepared to take the money. I don't see any apologies from people taking loans they couldn't afford. - the point about pay-outs & pensions. While we may morally feel these are unacceptable, the fact is that the directors who've gone were clever enough to get these enshrined in their contracts. They've broken no rules. I challenge anyone to state that they'd give money back from a well worded contract, in fact please do prove it. - The government - the programme seem to completely ignore the fact, except in passing, that that government created the regulatory structure that allowed this to happen, that the government was more than happy to take the corporation tax over the years, and above all had been completely silent to this up till it was political expedient to do so. Jumping on that bandwagon now simply is not good enough. At the end of the day, while some of these bankers have led the banking industry into dire straits there is simply a large degree of misunderstood both in the public and in the programme makers about how the finance industry works. My final point would be to challenge all the self righteous TV presenters, celebrities etc to publish their salaries and see if the 'Court of Public Opinion' feels that they are acceptable!

    Posted by balancedview on 18/05/2009 22:21:22

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11. So what about all Prime Ministers being paid after they are no longer hold office....currently the Tax payer is paying salaries to all EX prime ministers that are still alive and no doubt they are also recieving a large pensions as well....WHY do we let this happen!!!

    Posted by Old Biddie on 18/05/2009 22:06:52

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12. Very informative programme shown today. I didn't realise the utter greed of the board room executives. The ethos of the 'City' in general has tarnished somewhat due to the stupidity of the banking sector in general. I wonder whether the former Bank chiefs of RBSNatwest, HBOS and so forth realise what misery they have caused by 'cashing in' ridiculous sums of money when the banks have made losses!!! As the programme suggests the economy in whole has been failed by not only the CEO's but politicians and the regulartory bodies. Why don't people just do a decent job ethically anymore!!!

    Posted by Mrs Chetna Patel on 18/05/2009 22:02:40

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13. Jane Moore's astounding Dispatches report on bankers (many now state employees) and their remuneration reminds me of Samuel Johnson's definition of a pension: "pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country". Little has changed in the past 250 years.

    Posted by Michael on 18/05/2009 21:46:31

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14. Dear Ms Moore Your programme tonight on Channel 4 was excellent but depressing.I doubt however if it will result in any changes. These people are capable of resisting any kind of critisism and seem to have no conscience. Perhaps we Brits should adopt the actions of the French during their Revolution, not with guillotines in every town square but confiscating the excesive riches accumulated by these people, all be it by passing a law to make it legal. But our politicians are at it as well so I doubt if it will happen.Good luck on future investigations

    Posted by George Arbuckle on 18/05/2009 21:37:00

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15. I have just watched the ''Bankers still Cashing in'' and I thought it was brilliant. I am outraged at these ''Top Dogs'' and their earnings, bonuses and benefits. I am a hard working citizen and I pay for Sir Fred Goodwins 3 ply, gold wrapped toilet paper. These Bankers are a disgrace to the human race. We can only hope that their day will come...and I hope it smacks that fat smile right off their faces!!! DOWN WITH THE BANKS and their FAT CATS!

    Posted by Brennan on 18/05/2009 21:10:00

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16. What struck me at the end of this programme was the utter arrogance and contempt for ordinary people these bankers had. Their pocketing of vast sums of money compared to what MPs have been accused of taking. None of it is acceptable but MPs have had to face the public, answer to them, be ashamed, offer to pay back the money (not all of them sadly...) and there will have to be changes to the system. I suspect many will deservedly lose their positions, and are being threatened with prosecution - bankers seem to be immune - we are still giving them more tax payers money in pensions and pay-offs - incredible!

    Posted by Jezreel on 18/05/2009 21:08:48

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17. Tremendous programme from Jane Moore on Britains parasitic financial industry. Gordon Brown should be forced to watch it 10 times, and then explain himself to the British people. Salary and bonus caps desperately needed. And where are the prosecutions? This is NOT a feudal society.

    Posted by stevewo on 18/05/2009 21:08:42

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18. Hi ... Can somebody explain why this defrauding of the country is not treason ? If so could not the perpetrators not have there or rather the queens passport withdrawn .. ? Thank you another good expose Rgds T

    Posted by Tony Mason on 18/05/2009 21:07:36

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19. will watch this with great interest. Channel 4 is to be congratulated yet again for daring to expose what most of the media fail to do. long live Channel4's news and dispatches !

    Posted by simon mack lpl uk on 14/05/2009 19:08:43

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