[Ammi]

Britain’s two State- backed banks have been accused of ruining thousands of small firms by using ‘unscrupulous’ business practices.


Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds ‘harmed their customers through their decisions and caused their financial downfall’, according to a bombshell report released today.


RBS is said to have acted like a ‘hit squad’ by deliberately causing healthy businesses to go bust for its personal gain.


In the worst cases, the bank withdrew lines of credit for previously solvent firms by charging eye-watering fees and charges so it could then seize their assets – typically property – at knockdown prices.


Lloyds Banking Group is also singled out in the extraordinary allegations in an independent report commissioned by the Government.


Entrepreneur Lawrence Tomlinson was asked by Business Secretary Vince Cable to look into small business lending.


He accuses many of Britain’s banks of ‘heavy-handed profiteering and abhorrent behaviour’. Last night Mr Tomlinson said if it was proved there was ‘systematic and institutional fraud’ at the banks, ‘you should see people going to jail’.

His report reserved its most damning criticism for taxpayer-backed RBS and Lloyds. He said: ‘It is undeniable that some of the banks, RBS and Lloyds in particular, are harming their customers through their decisions and causing their financial downfall.’

The allegation will be a major embarrassment for both lenders and the Government, which owns an 82 per cent stake in RBS and 43 per cent in Lloyds

Last night Mr Tomlinson, the founding chairman of the LNT Group, which employs more than 2,000 people, told Channel 4 News: ‘We’re really concerned that the businesses aren’t really struggling and are pushed over the edge. And then these extra fees tip them over administration, and then you’ve got the loss of jobs but end up with RBS owning the property

If it is proved that this is systemic and institutional fraud, and there is quite a lot of evidence from people within the bank that this is the case, then the relevant action should be taken. If people have had their livelihoods stolen from them, you should see people going to jail.

The report claims to have uncovered ‘very concerning patterns of behaviour leading to the destruction of good and viable UK businesses’.

It suggests RBS engineered businesses to default on their loans to move them into a special division called Global Restructuring Group (GRG).

Once in GRG the firms were then hit with exorbitant rates and fees, which in some cases caused them to collapse, allowing RBS to buy their property and assets on the cheap, the report claims.

Mr Tomlinson said he was calling for ‘immediate action to stop this unscrupulous treatment of businesses’.

The report recommends that RBS and Lloyds be made significantly smaller, removing conflicts of interest within the banks, and creating a number of smaller, purely retail commercial banks.

The Mail launched its Make the Banks Lend campaign three years ago, to highlight the plight of small firms in accessing credit, but Mr Tomlinson’s findings show many small businesses are still being unfairly treated.


Mr Cable said evidence against RBS in the report had been referred to the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘This is shocking news for taxpayers who bailed out these banks to the tune of billions of pounds.’


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rofiteers.html

[arista]

Yes Stinking RBS
our Bank

Utter Corruption

[Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance,
said: ‘This is shocking news for taxpayers
who bailed out these banks to the tune
of billions of pounds.’]

When this Bank was
put under our control
it was wrong.

They should have Shut the Fecker Down Dead

All accounts would have be transferred
to another Bank.

But RBS would have been put 6 feet under
much better taking all the criminal workers with it.

[the truth]

this has gone on for 5 years its a disgrace but nothing is done...were enslaved to corporations.....rents on high streets remain high but footfall has more than halves, more and more business expenses have gone up and up for small small businesses from councils and endless European rules. also the way loans and mortgages are credit scored is absurd. they actually lend more money to people who owe more money and are in more debts. I know business owners who have to send their wives to get personal loans because they get more money offered to them than businesses do