© Toby Melville/Reuters
Comment: Now there's a credible source! Buzzfeed is like the more politically savvy Gawker.
The leaked files show RBS "artificially" distressed businesses to buy their assets at a discount and charge them fees. The bank is currently being investigated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority.
Comment: We're pretty sure that during and following the 2008 crisis there would have been very little need to "artificially" distress businesses.
The allegations date to a 2013 government commissioned report.
Comment: Which in no way could have any kind of bias - as we all well know - right comrades?
"If laws have been broken, individuals must be held responsible. These shocking revelations are a damning indictment of RBS's behavior during the financial crisis" said Jonathan Reynolds, Labour's shadow City minister, as cited by Bloomberg.
RBS denies deliberately forcing the collapse of customers' businesses.
"We have seen nothing to support the allegations that the bank artificially distressed otherwise viable SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) businesses or deliberately caused them to fail," RBS chief conduct and regulatory affairs officer Jon Pain said in a statement. But he added that in the aftermath of the financial crisis the lender did not always meet its own high standards and let some of its SME customers down.
The bank's staff allegedly received bigger bonuses by pinpointing companies for restructuring.
Comment: One wonders why the bonuses keep being brought up. The definition of bonus is good. This just says: Hey - this company thought people were good at doing their jobs. But this also implies: You should think these people are immoral for doing so.
How is that not the definition of paramoralism?
A paramoralism (from Greek/Latin para - "alongside, against, counter, beyond"; and moral - "system of ethics and human behaviour") is an insincere or deceptive moral argument or line of reasoning. While it may appear ethical, on closer examination it can be seen to be driven by self-interest, or by adherence to a system of rules disregarding conscience.
Paramoralisms do not simply justify bad ideas, or use faulty logic in an attempt to persuade. What defines them is the appeal to morality, the attempt to frame what is wanted as moral or what is not wanted as immoral. They can come from others or from oneself. Moral arguments are always suggestive, and once a person is swayed, the paralyzing effect of cognitive dissonance on critical thinking sets in; it immediately becomes harder to question the ideas justified.
They are also psychologically contagious: well-meaning people can be fooled by them, believe the intent is benevolent, and be misled into unwittingly supporting a cause or ideology and in turn spread the paramoralism to others. In this way, groups or even masses of people can come to support something which they would reject as unconscionable if they were able to see it clearly.
Shortly after the banking crisis of 2008, over 12,000 firms were pushed into RBS' turnaround arm - Global Restructuring Group (GRG). The division reportedly brought in extra income by squeezing small businesses.
"In regard to the wider allegations raised, we have found no evidence that the bank either inappropriately targeted such businesses to transfer them to GRG or drove them to insolvency," Pain said in response to the allegations.
"Nor did it buy their assets at a lower than market price," he added.
Comment: RBS is facing similar charges as Deutsche Bank, with RBS facing as big as a $27 million fine for there alleged misconduct before and after the 2008 crisis: That's not all. They've already paid $1.1bln to settle one probe, face another case involving over 100 small businesses ($1.23bln in damages), $2.45bln in damages for mis-selling Enterprise Finance Guarantee loans (which RBS denies), and a $7.36bln lawsuit for misleading shareholders before the 2008 bailout.