FSA failed savers, claims ex-Singer boss.

That was one of the headlines in the business section of the Daily Telegraph published yesterday. The former chief executive of UK bank Singer and Friedlander ,Tony Shearer said, that the Financial Services Authority (FSA), one of the creations of our great leader Gordon Brown, ignored his concerns about the competence of the Icelandic buyers Kaupthing. Shearer said the Icelandic businessmen were not fit and proper, which is quite an insult in the staid (??) world of banking.

I suppose everyone understands that the FSA really made a horlicks in the supervision of the British banking sector but it is still in denial. In the case of Singer and Friedlander, Kaupthing acquired the British bank in 2005. This followed the strategic need for a new customer base for deposits, since the Icelandic group had run out of savers amongst its domestic population. This amounts to 300,000 people, a similar number to the population of Coventry.
In hindsight the FSA could have been less welcoming to the Icelandic raiders. Perhaps the Bank of England could have done better and it looks like it is making a pitch for future regulation of banks.