Is RBS bust and they are not telling us? Part two

Today I thought I try and concentrate on a more positive picture of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). First, the British economy is going to need a counterweight to the new domestic banking giant Lloyds Banking Group. A diminished or disappeared RBS is not what we want in competition terms.
RBS still has some massive assets. For instance, I have been a NatWest customer since student days and I have been impressed how cheery the Potters Bar branch has been despite the uncertainty.
The bank's foreign assets, especially the U.S ones, should be kept. I thought it was a mistake to sell the Chinese interests just because cash could be easily raised. The original deal made a lot of sense.
The RBS brand is well-known. I know scorn has been poured on Fred the Shred's sports sponsorship activities but again these made sense, if the aim was to become a global bank.
RBS chairman Stephen Hester has been here before. I suppose he did not personally sort out the aircraft leases of Abbey National but a lot of work was expended in sorting out the mortgage bank. He delivered up the bank to Banco Santander, which was possibly not in the national interest, but it did sort out the problem.

It looks pretty bad for share markets at the moment.

It looks pretty bad for share markets at the moment. Apparently, investors are not impressed by the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the United States. Here, at home in good old Blighty I am worried that my modest portfolio is going to become
even more modest. The Daily Telegraph's Tracy Corrigan writes today that "The British banking system seems in a dreadful mess." She says that Alliance and Leicester is a drop in the ocean for Santander, the second biggest bank in
Europe.

I would recommend that bank shareholders lie down a bit and ponder why did they let those overpaid executives get away with it. There were siren voices all throughout
the past few years.
www.searchaccountant.co.uk
I wonder what the main shareholders are planning to do with "Fred the Shred" at Royal Bank of Scotland. However, you have to hand it to RBS. The Scottish bank got its
capital raising/rights issue off first in the queue and out of the way. Now RBS is in a hurried phase of selling off unwanted assets.

PS. I really like Tracy Corrigan's articles.

The Spanish Armada is coming: AL already captured!

The Spanish Armada is coming!! Only just a few years yet. We don't seem to have the
warriors of the calibre of Drake and Frobisher to fight back. I suppose it is nice to
have an open, transparent market but is it helpful for our economy for Banco Santander to pick up Abbey National and Alliance and Leicester, two British mortgage banks, on the cheap?

In reality, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) must be delighted that
Santander has come in with a rescue bid, just shares and no cash on the table.
If memory serves me correctly, Alliance and Leicester nearly hooked a French group
willing to pay £15 a share. But it all fizzled out unfortunately. The acting
A&L bod is reduced now to talking about "a good fit".

It is all fine and dandy having an open market but what happens if the Russians,
Chinese, foreign sovereign funds start piling in? Would it be good for UK PLC?

I think Banco Santander is a powerful bank and its UK representative performed well
during a Gordon Brown meeting with the main banks when the Santander guy spoke up
for the building societies. It looks like the building societies will have to
huddle together anyway. The Portman deal with the Nationwide showed the way.

As for the Spanish Armada, Telefonica, Iberdrola and Agbar have also acquired sizeable businesses in the United Kingdom. I think only Barclays has returned
the favour with Banco Zaragozano, although Taylor Wimpey is probably
losing its shirt in Spanish property.