John McFall and Charlie McCreevy tipped for banking venture
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Former Treasury select committee chairman John McFall and ex-EU internal markets commissioner Charlie McCreevy are among a number of City leaders tipped to be planning a banking venture which would seek to buy Government-backed assets.
The Financial Times reports that Lord McFall (pictured) and McCreevy are to be joined by Lord Levene, who is set to step down as chairman of Lloyd’s of London next year, and Sir David Walker, who recently published a report on corporate governance.
The newspaper reports that Levene would chair the venture, which would target assets such as Northern Rock and the branches of Lloyds Banking Group.
It is thought the new venture could be ready to trade on the stock exchange in just a few weeks.
The group would look to raise up to £4bn in order to fund acquisitions.
A group of institutional investors including Aviva, F&C Asset Management and Invesco have reportedly been approached to raise initial funds.
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Readers' comments (14)
Evan Owen | 9 Jul 2010 9:28 am
A "cash shell", sums it all up.
I thought "we" as in the "nation" owned these assets.
If the nation was asked "do you want to keep a bank in public ownership" (we used to have one of these anyway) I for one would say YES and chip in whatever I could afford (which isn't much I am afraid to say). But the prospect of selling this lot off cheap to some people who have £ signs for eyes makes my skin crawl particularly when we still have to suffer the consequences of the bailout for generations to come..
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LOL | 9 Jul 2010 9:29 am
Does that mean McFall will be FSA regulated?
If so, Hector will probably let him off as lightly as McFall let him off at the TSC hearing into the banking crisis. Quid Pro Quo
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Tony Joannou | 9 Jul 2010 9:37 am
Let me get this straight. Someone in a position of authority who because of Parliamentary privilage cant be questioned pillioried a sector of the market and in particular a few select companies which ended up with a share price at rock bottom, then decides it would be good to snap up sections of this sector in a 'fire sale'. So in two or three years when the sector has bounced back and those involved have made millions they will be laughing and what ever is left of the FSA will say absolutely nothing.
This makes me sick!
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Anonymous | 9 Jul 2010 9:42 am
This just makes you want to throw up.This is gives a mockery to honest and decent politics.There should be a period when people like McFall so called Labour Politician can not benefit
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Dermot Brannigan | 9 Jul 2010 9:50 am
This is a joke, right?
A man (McFall) who showed at the Northern Rock Select Committee briefing, that he was so ill-informed and unaware of how banking worked, is now going to run a bank!
I'd echo what Tony said. Surely this is just the same as a stockbroker, rubbishing a company so the share price drops, and he can buy some more!
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Neil Telford | 9 Jul 2010 9:58 am
I agree with Evan above.
Does anybody remember Girobank ?
That was a state-owned bank that was set up in the 1960's to shake up a fossilised banking sector and introduce some real competition. They introduced innovations such as electronic transfers, interest bearing-current accounts, etc. All the private banks soon followed suit.
Oh yes, it was sold off, privatised, and look at the result.
Banking is a social utility to some degree, so I think there is definitely a case for some state-owned banks.
Selling them off the state-owned banking assets at bargain-basement will raise the government money in the short-term, but is this really sensible ?
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Brian McCabe | 9 Jul 2010 10:51 am
These guys hunger for lost power. Now out of government, McFall sat in judgement over the banking crisis, and now finds that he can feather his own nest Armed with priviledged information about the fragility of the banking system he is gamekeeper turned poacher
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Julie | 9 Jul 2010 11:33 am
I used Girobank it was great. The bank at the post office. The only bank that liked you to pay in cash. So for a cash business it was great.
Then it became Alliance & Leicester now it's Santander and part of a foreign bank!
Now we have the Post Office bank all over again!
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Gerry Cooper | 9 Jul 2010 2:50 pm
What a lot of bitter and twisted bloggers there are today.
1) By cross party consensus, McFall was an able and effective Select Committee chair.
2) If you think he didn't understand Bankig, I have to tell you that it was clear that more than one Bank CEO also had a poor grasp of some of the basic principles.
3) Girobank was set up by a Labour administration, and sold off under a Tory one.
4) The same philosophy saw the sale of a raft of State assets, and later, the demutualisation of the former Building Societies.
5) McFall is a former Labour MP. Are you suggesting that ony former Tory MPs should work in the private Financial sector?
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Evan Owen | 9 Jul 2010 3:06 pm
So the reference to "cash shell" was pulled, why am I not surprised?
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