Goodwin is a scapegoat for collapse of banking system
Sir Fred Goodwin has lost something infinitely more valuable than his precious £700,000 pension this week.
His entire reputation is destroyed.
It is difficult for anyone who has not been subjected to a media firestorm to understand what that feels like and what it means.
He cannot live in his own home. The media will be camped outside it day and night and it will not be possible for him to enter or leave his own property without being mobbed by the Press.
He will, therefore, be “on the run”, probably staying with friends, quite possibly overseas.
He may well have had to change his phone numbers as he will be under siege, especially via his mobile.
The fact that his former friends in Government are now demanding that he hand back some of his massive pension means that, despite his letter of refusal, he will continue to be subjected to intense media pressure for the foreseeable future, until he either relents or issues a further statement.
Sir Fred Goodwin will not be able to socialise in public. Visiting shops and restaurants, going anywhere in fact will be difficult for him – as the risk of him being publicly vilified and abused will be high for years to come.
He’s still only 50 but he is most unlikely to get meaningful employment anywhere. His working life is effectively finished. Unlike Nick Leeson, it is doubtful he’ll be able to cash in on his notoriety.
For all that, it is hard to sympathise with him. I joined National Australia Bank Group shortly after he had resigned as chief executive of Clydesdale Bank. Few of his old colleagues had a good word to say about him. He had a reputation for ruthlessness and cost cutting that had earned him the nickname Fred the Shred.
He was, however, highly rated by the bank’s Australian owners who were reportedly grooming him to be the next CEO of National Australia Bank. One day, however, he went missing for a few hours. The bank’s security people were worried, fearing he may have been kidnapped. It transpired that he was being interviewed for the RBS job.
At RBS he pulled off the acquisition of National Westminster Bank, a deal so brilliantly executed he was lauded as Britain’s most brilliant business leader. In 2004 he was knighted for services to banking.
Goodwin is not a fool, but he has been made a scapegoat. He played a part in the collapse of the banking system. But he did not destroy the economy single-handed. He is being demonised by the Government partly to deflect attention from its own role in the affair.
Nick Garbutt is managing director of asitis consulting NickGarbutt@asitisconsulting.com
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Monday 13 February 2012
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