PowerSwitch

... some major UK lenders - including RBS, HSBC and Barclays - have had only 20 per cent of their balance sheets made up of "traditional" loans to UK households and firms.

.... up to 80 per cent is tied up in loans to foreign nationals and companies, bond issues and other investments.

Vortex wrote: As Tony Parsons said on the BBC this morning, why should the UK population suffer years of unemployment and poverty because of the ineptitude of a handful of our bankers?

Tess wrote:Most of our economic growth over the last few years came from (or was funded by) the banking & credit bubble. It's only fair that we give back what we didn't earn, isn't it?

Officials were particularly disturbed to find that the Royal Bank of Scotland had lent £2.5 billion to Leonid Blavatnik, a Russian oligarch who wanted to expand his chemicals business empire. RBS has had to write off the entire debt

It was also discovered that RBS, which could reveal losses of up to £30 billion, was part of a group that offered a £2.8 billion loan to Oleg Deripaska. The oligarch, who has links to Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and met George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, in Corfu last summer, used the money to buy the Russian metals firm, Norilsk Nickel.

Sunday Times Culture
`Misha Glenny made his reputation as a BBC reporter during the break-up of the Soviet empire and in the Balkan wars. Those experiences introduced him to the murky, bloody, terrifyingly successful operations of the East European mafias, dominated by Russians. For this book, Glenny has extended his researches worldwide. He describes gang operations in Bombay, sex slavery and money-laundering in Israel, the Canadian marijuana trade, Nigerian investment scams, Brazilian cyber-crime and much else. His message is that the global marketplace has empowered criminals on a huge and terrifying scale.... He tells a grisly story very well'

a significant part of the world economy is run by organised crime

Vortex wrote:

a significant part of the world economy is run by organised crime

I believe that about 30% of the world's economy is in offshore accounts etc.

Obama tax haven Act may threaten Channel Isles

A crackdown on offshore tax havens by Barack Obama could set a precedent for tougher rules on UK-controlled tax centres, such as the Isle of Man and Jersey, according to an offshore tax expert. The US Stop Tax Haven Abuse Bill is expected to be one of the first proposed laws that Obama signs in January.

It aims to encourage offshore havens to work toward removing themselves from a ‘black list’ compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The black-listed countries are accused of lacking financial transparency and standing in the way of international efforts to combat money laundering and tax evasion.

Accountancy Age, 27 Nov 2008
http://www.accountancyage.com/accountan ... t-threaten

Susukino wrote: Actually, I would make one caveat which is that while in aggregate the UK population has wallowed in greed and stupidity over the past decade (hence our swingeing levels of personal debt) some people behaved sensibly and did all the right things. The tax that those responsible people paid will still be used to bail out the other idiots.

Suss

Ben wrote: It is interesting that one of President Obama's first pieces of legislation aims to begin tackling just this problem. I wish him all the best on this, they'll be powerful opposition.