I have a couple of friends who become apopletic every time Andy Murray brandishes the RBS logo. Their ravings aren't against him personally but against RBS and the government's failure to control banks which were bailed our by the hard-earned taxes we contribute to the Treasury.
The last government gave RBS £20 billion to keep it afloat yet they continue to behave like the elite of the land and little action is taken by those promised they would be brought to book. Us taxpayers also guarantee more than £325 billion in toxic assets.
The latest PR stunt from RBS is one too far. They have agreed a three year contract, agreeing to spend up to £800,000 on hospitality, with the All England Club for the run of luxury 'Suite H' attached to the famous Court One at Wimbledon. The new contract gives the bankers and their clients sole access to the suite for the 13 days of the tournament this year and for the next two years. The cost this year is £260,000.
Last year the bank promised to cut its corporate hospitality in a bid to 'get its house in order', but not much of a cut because their staff and clients have been enjoying a 'summer luncheon buffet' which includes Shetland Isles salmon, sweet chilli prawns and crayfish, asparagus and Parma ham. Beverages, a free bar, passes to Court One and a Wimbledon programme are also offered.
A RBS spokesman said: ‘We thought hard before we renewed this contract in the light of our position and the substantial cuts we have made to our hospitality budgets. However, we are still a bank with customers to talk to and events such as this provides the opportunity for us to spend time with key clients.’
Why aren't the taxpayers classes as key clients? After all, if it wasn't for us there wouldn't be a bank. Sometimes I think it would have been far better for the country if it had been allowed to go belly-up. But Gordon would have upset some of his best mates wouldn't he?
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11 comments:
20 Million?
Open an account SR, deposit £1.00 & you might get invited!
Apt wv: serva
Ooops Chuck, thanks. Of course it's billion so I'll amend it immediately.
Joe, when I received hospitality tickets years ago it was because my organisation had been given a few due to providing many free services at Wimbledon. We raffled them throughout the whole staff and it was a large number.
Fair days.
Amended now Chuck. My skills as a touch typist are definitely dwindling.
That was just for starters. Where did all the quantative easing (money printing) go? Who gets all the free money from low central bank interest rates? They use that money to leverage up, buy and sell more derivatives meaning fraud and giant bonuses.
The bank's shareholders in London should not have been bailed out.
The people have been robbed, the fraud has killed the economy meaning jobs and now they expect people to accept 'austerity' measures to pay for said fraud..
It's theft and people are rolling over and taking the robbing willingly. Investors who made bad investments in dodgy banks should take the hit. Why are they being protected thus causing economic collapse?
As a customer of theirs (the only Scottish bank in the area, otherwise I wouldn't be), I'm wondering when I will get my invitation...
Bloody cheek. What's wrong with talking to customers in the damned office.
I trust that Mr Osborne or Mr Cable will be right on to this. And while they are at it, they will, I'm sure make it clear that multi-million pound bonuses are not going to happen under the Conservatives.
And if the scum threaten to take themselves off to the Middle or Far East, or to New York, I trust they will we told to shut the door after them.
Exactly Tris. I'm sure there are people who could and would do their jobs without the excessive monies they receive. But of course they'll hang on to the bitter end out of pure greed.
Lying behind RBS's explanation is the implication that "key clients" who are not wined-and-dined like this will leave the bank and place their business elsewhere.
It's absolute nonsense. Only a seriously naive fool could imagine that any "key clients" would be lost were this type of hospitality not offered. "Entertain me at Wimbledon or I'll take my account elsewhere" necessarily means they are not key clients but fly-by-nights.
I know a number of people who are feted like this (and to feel important I'll add that I was once invited by my bank to a private box at Lords for an Ashes test). They all look on it as a lovely treat but a waste of the bank's money. Some accept anyway if they have nothing better to do, most have something better to do. But it is an un-asked for extra and nothing but a cost to the bank.
By the way, I didn't go. It was a work day and the lost income would have far exceeded the price of the treat.
You've summed it up very well FatBigot. Fly-by-nights they are. I just wonder how many clients have been this year and how many staff.
Good for you. Obviously lost income means nothing to the fly by nights but it does to you and me.
Excellent post BFB.
You summed it up perfectly.
It's all a way that a certain group of people can invite each other to all of these events... Henley, All England, Wimbledon, Ascot, Cup Final, Royal Ballet, Badminton, Glynebourne....etc, and someone else pays.
One knows someone who'll be having a bash at all of these and one obviously gets an invitation, because one invites all the others to one's own particular event, doesn't one.
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