Cronyism in the Bank The AngloIrish Bank Trial
He says ……….. she says ………….backslapping…………….underhand
……………. overhand ………….don’t tell the regulators but ……… Is this the Irish Mafia
we are hearing about? Have we all been transported across the seas to Southern
Italy in our sleep? Whatever happened to the age old virtues of honour,
professionalism, responsibility and loyal service? When did our bankers start
thinking it was perfectly fine to be corrupt?
The Question:
The trial of senior members of the AngloIrish
bank has commenced. Already claims are being raised that the Regulators knew
all about the wheeze of loaning bank money to Mr Quinn to buy shares in Anglo
to boost the share price, etc.. Perhaps members of the Dail were also aware as
Mr Fitzpatrick was close to Bertie Ahern. An example of Cronyism? As in last
meetings point about the Abbey Theatre claim ‘cruelty’ against the Irish Times,
can we avoid cronyism in small communities?
Do you ever remember going to the bank and trying to ask for a loan? I had to ask to borrow £5 for two weeks once and I'll never forget it to my dying day! Reminiscent of Oliver's request for more soup, head bowed, I quivered in my boots while the preserver of the funds interrogated me on exactly how i was intending to pay back this vast sum of money. And Even when there was money in my account I felt guilty withdrawing any of it because you just knew he was thinking: 'Is that Elaine one in here again? What on earth is she throwing her money away on now?' My bank manager's main job was to intimidate me and keep me on the straight and narrow. You just knew he, and yes, it was always he, was the kind of man who wore starched pyjamas in bed and would regularly darn his own socks. My bank manager, like all bank managers of that era, was undoubtedly a righteous man, and he took his responsibility for the financial wellbeing of every single one of his customers seriously.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere along the road Mr Righteous metamorphosed into the new Maggie Thatcher creation. The establishment of the Open Market drew out the Del Boy brigade who have since reaped rich rewards for their devil-may-care wheeling dealing. Many, if not most of us, revelled in our new found 'wealth'. Free to borrow as much as we liked and with the positive encouragement of this new breed of bankers, we mortgaged ourselves up to the hilt. We bought that new car, that villa in Spain, we took holidays further afield, we did up the kitchen, we enjoyed our prosperity ............... Some more than others of course. And probably like some of you, I’m glad now that I had gone through the Mr Righteous training school in my youth. I suppose success is addictive really. The more you have the more you want. With success too comes confidence,which potentially tips in to daring do and finally recklessness.
Sean Quinn is probably a lot like the rest of us .......... only richer, greedier and a whole lot more powerful. And the AngloIrish bankers, well, who was going to stop them? Keep the regulators in the dark and do what you want. Nobody'll ask too many questions. After all we are all making a mint!
But then the financial world collapsed, the Celtic Tiger exploded into oblivion and everyone now wants to know how it all went so wrong. How did the bankers, the guardians of our wealth, let this happen? Not only that. Greed, recklessness and ultimately a number of illegal transactions actually contributed to the crash. The regulators had no hope of stopping them even if they did know anything.
Yes cronyism is rife in the South. But at least in this small country we have been able to identify who some of the people involved in this particular corruption are. There is a trial. There will be retribution. And bankers in the South will all have learned a vital lesson. I don't see anyone being prosecuted in the UK and yet we all know that it is very likely that similar forms of illegal wheeling dealing have taken place here too. Cronyism is one thing but anonymity is perhaps more dangerous long term.