Bob Diamond

[steveo]

Was my grandfather's name.

He was a swindler too. He once bet the lads in the pub he could grow bigger beans, then on judgement day, on close inspection, they found he had stapled shop bought beans to the canes.

He didn't get a ?20 million pay off when he was found out though.

[Jah Lush]

And they say crime doesn't pay.

[the-e-dealer]

Richie Ritch Doesnt sound very trustworthy either! . And how long before Diamond Un-resigns? 1 Day ? 1Week ? 1 year?

[Jah Lush]

Or re-employed elsewhere on another bumper salary?

[DulwichFox]

Used to have a Dentist called Mr. Diamond.

Don't think he was called Bob though as he was Swiss.

He operated from 160 ??? Barry Road in the 60's

Anyone remember him. ??

Fox.

[steveo]

You wouldn't have wanted my granddad near your teeth, not if his own were anything to go by

[Jeremy]

In an organisation the size of Barclays, it makes no sense for the CEO to take the rap for something like this. The blame lies in compliance, and of course the individuals who knowingly submitted the wrong rates.

It's purely political. In what other industry would the CEO be forced to resign under similar circumstances? Not pharmaceuticals, it would seem.

[the-e-dealer]

I knew a Crazy Shiney Diamond.

[steveo]

I guess where he's American, he can run now, before the rozzers go round to pick him up.

[El Pibe]

I lost count of the number of times Private Eye reported incidents of political pressure placed upon the FSA to sweep stuff under the carpet during those heady days.

This is our old friends Blair and Brown again isn't it.

I couldn't give a toss about Bob Diamond frankly but Jeremy's right that he's been scapegoated.

Heads should roll but I've a suspicion that most of them will have moved elsewhere by now anyway, many to totally different jurisdicions anyway.

Just another case of banker bashing in a slow news week, clearly not enough massacres in Syria going on.

In terms of bad business practices there are far more pressing concerns such as the exploitation of immigrant workers, supermarket's bullying produce suppliers etc etc etc that noone raises an eyebrow over as those price manipulations help to keep our costs down and keep us happy like any other amoral derivatives trader.

Let he who is without sin etc.....

*i'm not advocating these practices either, and if there are criminal charges to be answered (and I suspect there could well be) I'll be as happy to see those doors a slamming as anyone else, just saying storm in a teacup is all*

[StraferJack]

Sorry Pibe but that?s slightly surprising coming from you

Calling Diamond a scapegoat is a bit like our ?single rogue reporter? excuse trotted out by News International before it became obvious they were knee deep in trouble (and didn?t a CEO resign in that industry?)

Not to say Diamond isn?t being singled out (now at least ? this is going to get a lot worse before long) but it isn?t banker bashing in the slightest when an industry which relies so heavily on trust is found juking the stats. It?s just common sense to say ?if this is widespread it?s got to be stopped?

[Undisputedtruth]

I'd expect the likes of Hugo, Quids and co defending Bob Diamond as though he was a victim of his own success. And that we should all be grateful for the existence of banks.

I see El Pibe has tried deflect attention away from banks. After all he works for one.

We hear how the tories gleefully announced reforms for the public sector. Perhap it's time they do so for the banks. Clearly we have an imbalance of banks in relation to our economy and at the expense of other industries. Some of the banks like Barclays pay very little tax because of tax avoidance schemes. So to say that we should be grateful for banks is pure nonsense. They created the deficit through greediness and let us ordinary people like us pick up the consequences.

[StraferJack]

"far more pressing concerns such as the exploitation of immigrant workers, supermarket's bullying produce suppliers etc etc etc that noone raises an eyebrow over as those price manipulations help to keep our costs down and keep us happy like any other amoral derivatives trader."

As for this one, it's true as far as it goes. However:

1) to suggest that people aren't concerned about them is wrong - those topics have been discussed on here plenty and will be again

2) I thought arguing "can't talk about X when Y is happening and that's worse" was considered poor form

3) If the world loses faith in banks for playing with the fundamental building blocks of banking, then all other problems will seem like small beer.

[El Pibe]

And how is saying he's a scapegoat like saying it was one rogue reporter.

Ultimately the buck has to stop somewhere and if he takes the fall, like I say I have on issue with that, but taking the fall he is. And that is surely political pressure to deflect attention from the lax regulatory climate in place, one the tories tend to think should be further deregulated.

"I see El Pibe has tried deflect attention away from banks. After all he works for one."

To quote otta "idiot"

You have no idea where or for whom I work, but during my previous jobs in investment banking I have seen all sorts of shoddy practices utterly widespread in the industry, and known to be so for a long time. These revalations are about as shocking as 'Linekar sleeps around', it's an open secret.

I'm not sure investment banking relies on trust at all, if it didn't it wouldn't be so heavily regulated and have so much compliance in place.

I would say that key to moving forward however is the seperation of investment and retail concerns of banks as well as breaking down those 'too big to fail'.

I've been saying this from the start so no surprise there.

This really is storm in a teacup stuff.

[StraferJack]

"And how is saying he's a scapegoat like saying it was one rogue reporter. "

because in both cases, the argument is "nothing to see here"

If IB doesn't rely on trust, how would you describe the practice of how the Libor rate is arrived at?

Does it have SO much compliance in place? In which case how have the recent JPMorgan and Barclay situations arisen, given the spotlight on banks since 2008? How come you have seen all the "practices utterly widespread in the industry, and known to be so for a long time. " but "so much compliance" hasn't?

(my argument there is not that I disagree with you on the practices, but on the banks complaining about compliance being a burden. If it was such a burden then one would expect the practices to at least be mitigated)

[El Pibe]

In short though, as you well know, it's the incredible complexity of the regulation that allows for things like this to fall between the cracks as people tend to tick the boxes that are looked for and turn a blind eye to grey areas taht aren't specifically being sought.

Hence why it often relies on financially punitive measures on compliance officers in a bid to keep them savvy to this sort of thing.

My point about b is worse may not have been clear. I'm saying that it's ongoing and disgusting but no universal opprobrium is heaped upon those organisations, and we stand to benefit making us big fat hypocrites as we turn a blind eye oursleves.

ALready spent more time on this quick note than I

[StraferJack]

"ALready spent more time on this quick note than I"

And I've broken my "not getting involved in these debates again" rule

[Jeremy]

Regarding compliance - there's a lot of it, but much of it is ill conceived, and poorly enforced by people who don't always understand the industry (both in terms of internal compliance staff and external regulators). Banks don't need more compliance, they need better/smarter compliance.

[the-e-dealer]

Head of Investment Division gone now and Diarmark asked to return 20M Bonus ! Beginning to look a bit more like justice!

[El Pibe]

in fact I'm staggered that the Glaxo story hasn't generated more commentary.

It's far more shocking, though the fine is gargantuan.

[nashoi]

As I understand it any loan over a certain amount (c?15m) will be linked to libor so anyone who financed such a loan could now have a claim against Barclays or RBS or anyone else involved, if true that seems like a pretty big teacup to me.

[Undisputedtruth]

I don't think better/smarter compliance is the answer. As it seems banks will alway find away around it.

What is clear is that these bankers were fraudulent in their behaviour and the 2006 fraud act gives the possibility for prosections in the future. Putting these bankers in jail is the only way forward. If a rioter can be given a stiff sentence for stealing a packet of chewing gum then surely throwing away the key is the right thing to do for these bankers.

[StraferJack]

"in fact I'm staggered that the Glaxo story hasn't generated more commentary.

It's far more shocking, though the fine is gargantuan."

It is shocking but I think Joe Public has had a long history of Big Pharma pulling numbers like that and when they get caught they tend to pay a price

I think with banks there is a sense that not only does Joe Public not know the half of it, but that banks continue to be mollycoddles and yet even so, teh worst is yet to come. And things like Libor-fixing looks a BIT like a scraggly, skinny dude on horseback

[StraferJack]

speaking of Messrs Brown and Co, the email in this link could be fairly explosive, no?

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/07/03/1070001/mr-tucker-stated-that-it-did-not-always-need-to-be-the-case-that-we-appeared-as-high-as-we-have-recently/

[Undisputedtruth]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "in fact I'm staggered that the Glaxo story hasn't

> generated more commentary.

> It's far more shocking, though the fine is

> gargantuan."

>

> It is shocking but I think Joe Public has had a

> long history of Big Pharma pulling numbers like

> that and when they get caught they tend to pay a

> price

>

> I think with banks there is a sense that not only

> does Joe Public not know the half of it, but that

> banks continue to be mollycoddles and yet even so,

> teh worst is yet to come. And things like

> Libor-fixing looks a BIT like a scraggly, skinny

> dude on horseback

Probably due to the fact it was related to anti-depressants.