Bob Diamond resigns!

[jimslip]

It's heart warming to see Barclays boss Bob Diamond fall on his sword! You will all be delighted to know that his pay off will be in the region of ?20-?30 million! He has already raked in ?100,000,000 during his time at Barclays. ?100,000,000 would pay the salaries of 7000 nurses for a whole year or nearly 6000 regular soldiers!

I am sure he deserves every penny!!nuts!

Just a footnote to all this, if it wasn't for an American newspaper expose, none of this scandal would have emerged..........Quel surprise! So much for the FSA!

[steveb]

Good.

Late, but still good.

[frankthring]

Be careful of the emotion here Jim. Are we all angry with Diamond for what
he did...or are we just jealous of his huge Fat Cat salary ? Bob Diamond
was in banking terms a very successful banker. He revitalised and brought
enormous earnings into Barclays Capital division. Barclays is a British
company. Despite your hatred of banks and bankers they have a job to do.
He was, in fact, good at his job and Barclays did not ask for Government
handouts a few years back when other banks fell.
The problem with Diamond is one of plain greed allied with a failure to see
what his actions were doing in this recession. By offering the best bonuses
to his investment youngsters (all suits, no ties, tablets, smartest new
electronic toys and ferraris) the City was forced to follow suit and keep this
obscene greed for higher pay and perks on the boil. Bob Diamond himself
expected a colossal salary and (in banking terms and judged by his peers)
was worth it. To the rest of us the sums involved (Bob is privately worth just
over ?100 million, so a tad richer than the Jim Slip website) are ludicrous.
Investment banking needs a shake-up and complete separation from High
Street banking. Ther bonuses need to stop.....sadly the huge basic salaries
will stay because the City of London is one of Britain`s success stories and
if we don`t pay the buggers top wages they will all de-camp to USA or
Germany !

[william]

Bob was a thief basically - he knew what was going on. Illegal and there is more to follow - even up until the last 24 hours he thought he still had a place at Barclays - Nope

Its all falling to bits now.

[Flat_Eric]

Frank, I always think that the "you're just jealous" argument is a bit lame to be honest.

That's the language of the school playground, and I really don't think that most people are that petty. I think that most folk have no problem with talented people being rewarded for genuine hard work and success.

It's the greed factor that grips most people's shit I think. The same reason that we get hacked off about tax "avoidance" by billionnaires. These fuckers trouser telephone-number salaries that most ordinary people can only dream about, not to mention crazy bonuses. But still they're not satisfied.

In fact so addicted are they to money that have to resort to criminal activities in order to accumulate even more personal wealth. And I'm not just talking about Bob Diamond & co here, the fat-cats right at the top of the tree. The problem goes much deeper than that, down to the Gordon Gekkos who are lower down the pecking order but still get paid so much that they're driving around in Ferraris and coiffing Bolliger like its lemonade.

It's the whole culture of greed and avarice that has taken over the entire banking sector over the past 2 decades (and not just in the UK), and is the main reason we're in the current mess.

- Eric

[spider]

So we pay them these gigantic salaries and then when things start to go wrong they say "how did that happen then? I never authorised that!"

If we don't pay them these gigantic salaries they say will de-camp somewhere else.

And do what? Bugger-up someone else's banking system?

If they want a hand packing their suitcases all they need to do is give me a call.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Two of my friends, one a manager at Clydesdale, the other a company secretary both warned people about Diamond Bob before he was appointed. Professional gambler suited to stock market but wholly unsuitable for a high street operation....still he'll probably have a new mega paid job by the end of the week...managing VP Blair and Gordun McBroon's massive assets! The shit that is now stirring was totally ignored by both of them.

[andy at handiwork]

frankthring wrote:'He was, in fact, good at his job and Barclays did not ask for Government handouts a few years back when other banks fell.'

No, but Barclays benefited from the other banks that WERE supported by the taxpayer not collapsing. And in fact it would appear that there apparent strength at the time was just possibly illusionary, in no small way due to their fudging of the figures.

[andy at handiwork]

Of course I meant 'Yes, but......' Curse that popping into the pub on the way home.

[mrchapel]

Another wall street white collar corporate criminal asshole who deserves a crowbar to the the face