Son in law of Islamic prophet Mohammed and first
male convert to Islam, Ali ibn Abi Talib once said, “One who acquires power
cannot avoid favouritism” and in spite of four years of public outrage over
the impotence of the UK’s regulators and a tumultuous term at the helm of the Financial
Services Authority, for former banker and recently retired chief executive of
the FSA (2007-2012), these ancient words have proved wholly true.
Infamously accused by MP’s of being asleep at the
wheel at the height of the UK’s bank bailouts, for Hector Sants 2012 has been a
remarkably good year. With an annual pay package rumoured to be worth a
comfortable three million pounds for a regulatory position at Barclays and a knighthood
coming his way in the New Year it is extremely hard to marry his current good fortune with a track record which found him napping while the UK’s banksters
reaped havoc with the lives of everyone but their own. As a direct result of
the FSA’s negligence, countless people have lost their homes, their livelihoods
and their financial futures and aside from those who have been tricked by the
banks into purchasing PPI, the majority have received no restitution for losses
which occurred because the FSA, under the guidance of Hector Sant, chose not
to,
- Regulate responsibly
- Prosecute banking criminality
- Protect the banks customers
- Fraudulently sold unsuitable products to their customer to increase their profits
- Manipulated Libor rates to serve their own interests and camouflage their exposure to risk
- Disguised their flawed loan books and sold them as blue chip low risk investments to negate their losses
- Insured themselves against a property crash they knowingly created
I can only concluded that the favours of the
powerful heading Hector Sants' way over the coming months can only be for Hector
Sants' services to banksters and not banking. Speaking as a victim of the notorious
Halifax Bank of Scotland who has unsuccessfully fought for the last four years to secure the assistance of both the FSA and the FOS in my mortgage mis-selling case, the decision to honour individuals whose actions were pivotal to onset of the banking crisis only serves to illustrate how these failure continue to be rewarded leaving the rest of us to pay the price of the financial sector’s avarice.
Ali ibn Abu Talib also said,“As long as fortune is
favouring you, your defects will remain covered” and if the New Years honours list is an accurate measure of policy, it seems papering over the the cracks remains very much the order of the day.
Little wonder the banksters believe they are above the law.
Little wonder the banksters believe they are above the law.
