Donate SIGN UP

Another Greedy Banker Throws His Toys Out Of The Pram.

Avatar Image
mikey4444 | 08:43 Tue 11th Mar 2014 | News
22 Answers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26525590

This Bank is forecast to lose £2bn this year ! I simply can't see why we should be held to ransom by these greedy people. If he wants to resign, then let him ! There must be an executive somewhere in Britain that would gladly have this job, take a reasonable salary and just get on with the work in hand. I'm getting a tad fed up hearing that people simply won't work, for massively failing companies like this Bank, without earning ludicrous salaries.

Hasn't it occurred to anyone that one of the main reasons that companies are losing such eye-watering amounts of money every year, is because they are hemorrhaging money in paying huge wages for its senior staff ?

I am also at a loss to understand that if this company is going to lose £2bn, where is the money coming from to pay its senior staff ? If I owned a small engineering company, for instance and I was losing money, the company would expire overnight. And yet these bl**dy Banks can continue to pay footballers wages, even though there isn't any money left in the coffers !
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 20 of 22rss feed

1 2 Next Last

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by mikey4444. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
He's not a banker though- he's the head of the Cooperative Group. But I agree with some of your sentiments.
I think the money paid to senior staff though, whilst it may be excessive, is tiny compared to the scale of losses from things such as bad debts, failed mergers, write-ofs, misselling claims
the actual banker was the crystal Methodist and he's gone already.
he is picking up the pieces presumably.
> Mr Sutherland is thought to be "demoralised and fed-up <


i know just how he feels -)
Question Author
You may be right FF but if the company is losing money hand over foot, where are the millions coming from to pay these huge wages ? Surely paying these salaries just pushes the company further into debt ?

I am a Customer of the Co-op Bank and I must say straight away that I have never had any trouble with them in the 42 years that I have banked with them. There staff are always helpful, especially their Telephone Banking people in Lancashire. I shop most days in my local Co-op and again, have no gripes, although I wished they stocked more than 2 Guardians every day.
The fat cats still argue against the separation of casino banking and the dull old High St variety. And who could blame them, it's not often the chance to play roulette with a guarantee that if you win you keep the winnings but when you lose the taxpayer picks up the tab.
He must have know the particular ethos and management style of this bank before he took on the job.
Question Author
jno...clever post ...I wished I had said that ! ( actually, I might pinch that from you and pretend I did )
I'm not sure this has a great deal to do with bankers though. It's the Cooperative Group. It has all sorts of problems and it's banking division is just one of them. It has stores (and lost loads of money on buying Somerfield), travel, farms, pharmacies, funeralcare, etc).
I think his concern is the struggle to sort out the corporate structure- we say with the Paul Flowers story that unqualified people can get appointed through regional boards, labour party supporters etc
Question Author
Perhaps you are right in that this isn't strictly a Banking story. But my comments apply just as well to any big company that pays far too much for its senior staff. The Co-op isn't like every other company in that it is owned by its Members, me and millions of others. I just think they should come down to earth and get on with the job, instead of continually bickering in public.
I agree. I think many of the people in senior positions are actually conmen who are good at giving the impression they are doing a fantastic job of 'modernising' an organisation then they leave and move on to the next lucrative appointment before anyone realises what a mess they've made
^ I should add that those comments apply to many major organisations- I wasn't referring specifically to the Co-op Group
You could view the whole sorry saga as being symptomatic of the problems around pay in the city, though F-F. The fact that all such boardroom pay deals are decided by the same companies, who all recommend that all companies pay salaries appropriate to the upper quartile of "similar" companies ensures that boardroom pay continues ever upwards, with little that your average shareholder can do to check it.

And consequently we are left with companies where the chief executives are being paid 235 times the salary/wage of the lowest paid workers in their company, where executives are being offered golden handcuff bonuses that can double their already extravagant salaries for doing nothing other than remaining at the company - that has no link to company performance, or where they just decided to lay of the head of HR by giving her the equivalent of 2 years pay and bonuses - these are all terrible business practices.

Were I a shareholder or member of the co-operative - actually not just the co-op, but of any of the major companies and banks - I would be aghast and dismayed at the complacency and greed that this represents at senior management / board level.
perhaps this answers some of your points, my thread from a few weeks back


http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1318038.html
Mikey444

You are totally missing the point.

Mr Sutherland has only been in post for 10 months, he is not responsible for the present state of the Co-operative Bank.

The story here seems to be that he wants to end the Co-ops mutual status. He reckons it makes it ungovernable. It may be that he just doesn't understand it, because he is from a traditional banking background. The Co-op has run has a mutual for 150 years so it is a bit late to decide it doesn't work. I woyld call his bluff and let him go, he doesn't sound up to the role.

The Co-op made one mistake, but it was a big one. They bought the Britannia Building Society which was a crock of *** and was filled with toxic commercial loans. No amount of new management can turn the clock back and undo that. They just need to weather the storm which may take several years.
Boardroom pay started getting out of control during the Thatcher era of "no such thing as society, every man for himself".

The main opposition came from the Unions so darling Maggie emasculated them, and since then Boardroom pay has increased by well over 10% every year with the pigs themselves deciding how much of the Company's profits to put in their trough.
Jno

The Crystal Metodist was considered a very good Chairman by his other Directors.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/07/co-op-bank-paul-flowers-perfect-choice

He was made Chairman as a result of the takeover/merger of Britannia. A lot of bad decisions were made then, it seems.
it was obviously important that he didn't colour the tone, though I am somewhat mystified by what this means.
On a related note - does your heart not bleed for the poor unfortunates?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/11/bank-bonus-city-of-london_n_4939570.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
no it doesn't,

1 to 20 of 22rss feed

1 2 Next Last

Do you know the answer?

Another Greedy Banker Throws His Toys Out Of The Pram.

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.