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| Economy |
| RBS Ordered To Discontinue Foreign Loans |
| 2009-03-28 |
| Once as rooted in the Scottish soil as this city's famous castle, the Royal Bank of Scotland ventured far during the era of globalization -- pumping billions of dollars worth of credit overseas as it expanded into markets as diverse as Kazakhstan, China and Rhode Island. But just as RBS came to symbolize the free flow of credit across borders, the worldwide financial crisis has turned it into a leading example of the reverse: protectionism in the 21st century. The government took majority control of the venerable bank four months ago after it suffered the worst corporate loss in British history. Authorities promptly issued a fresh directive: RBS, which had been in private hands since 1727, would have to sharply boost lending to British companies and home buyers stung by the global credit crunch -- effectively curtailing lending to its equally hard-hit customers overseas. As RBS prepares to comply with the government order to pump billions of dollars more into British credit markets, it is retrenching in at least 15 countries, moving to sell off branches from Vietnam to Romania. In the United States, where RBS operates the nation's 10th largest bank, the company recently sold off 65 subsidiary branches in Indiana and scaled back auto loan operations in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Arizona. This is going to nuke 'emerging markets' around the world. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 BankWest is more of a spoonerism than a malapropism!? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent 2009-03-28 20:32 |
| #3 RBS bought the largest bank in Western Australia. And rebranded it using the gay theme song, Go West and named it with a rather unfortunate malapropism - BankWest. All in all, a marketing disaster. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-03-28 18:15 |
| #2 Watch for a cascade of protectionism around the world. Not good. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-03-28 17:51 |
| #1 Ignores why they went into the foreign loan market - maybe because socialist policies and bureaucratic regulation [for regulation sake] at home made return on investment minimum. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-03-28 10:42 |