Alex Massie Alex Massie

Barclays vs RBS: A Tale of Luck and Greed

At the end of the Peter Oborne column James linked to yesterday, Peter writes:

I believe that one genuine hero has emerged from the collapse of the British banking system. He is John Varley, the Barclays chief executive who this week proudly announced that his bank would not be taking government money to stay afloat.

I admire Varley because he has fought hard to keep one of the greatest names in British banking for more than 300 years independent and out of the hands of the State.

It is a hard fight and, who knows, he may yet fail. But at least Varley is doing his best. Fair enough. But it might have been very different had Varley had his way. That is, Barclays might look at what has happened to the Royal Bank of Scotland and shudder “There but for the grace of God, go we”.

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