Over £2billion lost by RBS sale

10 years ago, the Government bought a huge stake in RBS to stop the bank going under and taking the entire economy with it - a desperate move in desperate times but it worked and the pressure on the London Stock Exchange was eased and eventually stabilised.
RBS cut back it's operations to become streamlined enough to break even and it now operates in 9 countries compared to the 38 it operated in 10 years ago.
Losses were stemmed and this year, for the first time since the Government bought shares RBS actually made a profit.
So with the prospect of eventually recouping some of the taxpayers money finally on the cards, the Government have chosen this moment of all moments to sell 7% of our RBS shares at a loss of over £2 billion!!!

RBS was a poor investment, albeit unavoidable at the time, but surely getting out at the point when that investment is showing signs of finally bearing fruit is perhaps one of the dumbest moves since you know what? 

Notable that they didn't sell more shares so why sell 7% now and what do they need the ready cash for? Surely we haven't got a cashflow problem?

They are doing it to grow the market for the shares.

The less a central government has ownership of a company the more likely the free market investors will evaluate its potential for making profit - and thus drive up the demand for (and thus the price of shares for future sell-offs) in it.

All standard economic stuff really.

Perhaps if May hadn't bribed the DUP with a billion pounds we wouldn't have needed to sell now.

What makes this bribe even more reprehensible is that she didn't even need to give them the money as the DUP would never have countenanced Corbyn getting into power anyway.

Laughable, the share price was never going to go up while the government made it so obvious they sell at the earliest opportunity no matter what the cost to the tax payer. Another handout to the private sector to the detriment of the tax payer.

Sluffy wrote:

All standard economic stuff really.

Yup. Losing a couple of billion of taxpayer's money is all standard economic stuff for this Government.

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:All standard economic stuff really.

Yup. Losing a couple of billion of taxpayer's money is all standard economic stuff for this Government.

Jesus you really are turning into being just an angry troll with little if any positivity from you at all.

The Government had little option other than support the banking system otherwise the economy would have collapsed.

The core of the problem was how the American banking system worked in relation to lending money to people who had no hope of paying it back - then parcelling off these toxic loans and selling them on to the banking system throughout the world.

The Governments of all country's were their national banks were effected, pumped in billions to support them too.

Perhaps we could have avoided this if we hadn't deregulated our banks in the first place - and which party was it that did that eh?

The shit happened because we are part of a global economy, we join in and interact with the world.  Being part of the EU or outside of it won't stop that happening.   We are part of the world and not somehow isolated and withdrawn from it.

Lots of good things come out of a global economy, lots of bad things do too.

Trying to lay blame on the Government of the day doing the only thing it could do to protect us all from a financial melt down to score some petty point against me and/or the current Government is just utterly childish and pathetic of you in the extreme.

I bank with RBS,and they're a basket case.
First off I was told they were selling me off to Santander. That fell through.
Then I was going to be part of a new stand alone bank, Williams and Glyn,and that also fell through.
No idea what they'll come up with next.

Think Lust is blaming the gov of today for selling short. If he is that rant may need revising Sluff.

T.R.O.Y wrote:Think Lust is blaming the gov of today for selling short. If he is that rant may need revising Sluff.

I've already answered that point in post 2 above.

His reply to it is therefore having a pop at me or the Conservatives (the Government at the time having little choice at the time other than to prop up the bank and now needs to create a market for the sale of the rest of the shares it holds) - neither of which is justified - ergo my point about him trolling.

Didn’t work the last time they sold shares did it? It’s not trolling to suggest making a £2 billion loss is a bad move - plenty of economists agree on that.

wanderlust wrote:10 years ago, the Government bought a huge stake in RBS to stop the bank going under and taking the entire economy with it - a desperate move in desperate times but it worked and the pressure on the London Stock Exchange was eased and eventually stabilised.
RBS cut back it's operations to become streamlined enough to break even and it now operates in 9 countries compared to the 38 it operated in 10 years ago.
Losses were stemmed and this year, for the first time since the Government bought shares RBS actually made a profit.
So with the prospect of eventually recouping some of the taxpayers money finally on the cards, the Government have chosen this moment of all moments to sell 7% of our RBS shares at a loss of over £2 billion!!!

RBS was a poor investment, albeit unavoidable at the time, but surely getting out at the point when that investment is showing signs of finally bearing fruit is perhaps one of the dumbest moves since you know what? 

Notable that they didn't sell more shares so why sell 7% now and what do they need the ready cash for? Surely we haven't got a cashflow problem?

You say Dumbest move !
What this means is their masters will make millions, It's their policy, always has been,  always will, Her husband makes his living at an investment corporation responsible for 1.4 Trillion of investors money. They’ve got to make a butty somehow ?

Reebok Trotter wrote:

wanderlust wrote:10 years ago, the Government bought a huge stake in RBS to stop the bank going under and taking the entire economy with it - a desperate move in desperate times but it worked and the pressure on the London Stock Exchange was eased and eventually stabilised.
RBS cut back it's operations to become streamlined enough to break even and it now operates in 9 countries compared to the 38 it operated in 10 years ago.
Losses were stemmed and this year, for the first time since the Government bought shares RBS actually made a profit.
So with the prospect of eventually recouping some of the taxpayers money finally on the cards, the Government have chosen this moment of all moments to sell 7% of our RBS shares at a loss of over £2 billion!!!

RBS was a poor investment, albeit unavoidable at the time, but surely getting out at the point when that investment is showing signs of finally bearing fruit is perhaps one of the dumbest moves since you know what? 

Notable that they didn't sell more shares so why sell 7% now and what do they need the ready cash for? Surely we haven't got a cashflow problem?

You say Dumbest move !
What this means is their masters will make millions, It's their policy, always has been,  always will, Her husband makes his living at an investment corporation responsible for 1.4 Trillion of investors money. They’ve got to make a butty somehow ?

Fair point. Just a bit annoyed it's taxpayers money that was sold short just as there are finally signs of life in RBS. 
Never mind. I'll console myself with the knowledge that Mr May is doing OK out of it.