RBS could refer to:

Art[link]

• Rolling Ball Sculpture
• Royal British Society of Sculptors

Banking[link]

• Royal Bank of Scotland - Scottish high street bank
  • Royal Bank of Scotland Group - A majority British state owned Scottish holding company, which owns Royal Bank of Scotland, National Westminster Bank and others

Broadcasting[link]

• Radio Base Station
• RBS TV, a Brazilian regional television network

Computers[link]

• Role based security
• Rule-based system
• Remote BLOB Storage

Defence[link]

• RBS-15, a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface, anti-ship missile.
• RBS-70, an air-defence weapon

Education[link]

• Regent's Business School
• Robert Browning School
• Rotterdam Business School
• Royal Ballet School
• Rutgers Business School
• Riga Business School

Project management[link]

• Resource Breakdown Structure
• Risk breakdown structure

Miscellaneous[link]

• FC Red Bull Salzburg, an Austrian football club
• Ramat Beit Shemesh
• Regionalverkehr Bern Solothurn - Railway Operator in Switzerland
• Revised British Standard, a bullhead rail profile
• Ribosomal Binding Site
• Richard Brinsley Sheridan
• Robbed-bit signaling
• Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (analytical technique)

Spaceflight[link]

• Reusable Booster System

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria) is an Austrian skydiver and a BASE jumper. He is renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.

Biography[link]

He was born on 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria.^[1]

In 1999 he claimed the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[2]

On 31 July 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made fibre wing.^[3]

Baumgartner set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.^[4]

He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004^{[citation needed]} and the first person to sky dive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on 18 August 2006.^[5]

On 12 December 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck, then went to the 90th floor (about 390 m (1,280 ft)) of the then tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan.^[6]

[edit] Red Bull Stratos

In January 2010, it was reported that Baumgartner was working with a team of scientists and sponsor Red Bull to attempt the highest sky-dive on record.^[7] Baumgartner was going to make the 120,000 ft (36,600 m) jump from a capsule suspended from a balloon filled with helium, intending to become the first parachutist to break the sound barrier; the feat was scheduled to take place sometime in 2011.^[8][9][10] Joseph Kittinger, who holds the records Baumgartner is attempting to break, was advising Baumgartner during the "Stratos" mission in the hopes of getting scientific data on next-generation full pressure suits.^[7][11] However, on October 12, 2010, Red Bull announced it was placing the project on hold after Daniel Hogan filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, California in April, claiming he had originated the idea of the parachute dive from the edge of space in 2004 and that Red Bull had stolen the idea from him.^[12][13] The lawsuit was resolved out of court in June 2011^[14] and on 5 February 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported that the project would be resumed.^[15]

On 15 March 2012 he completed the first of two test jumps from 71,581 feet (21,818 m). During the jump he spent approximately three minutes and 43 seconds in free fall, reaching speeds of more than 360 miles per hour (580 km/h), before opening his parachute. In total, the jump lasted approximately eight minutes and eight seconds and Baumgartner became only the third person to safely parachute from a height of over 13.5 miles (21.7 km).^[16]

See also[link]

• Michel Fournier, who has been working on a 25 mile jump for several years.^[17]
• Joseph Kittinger, world record holder for skydiving from 102,800 ft
• Yves Rossy, the first man to cross the English Channel using a jet-powered wing

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Red Bull Stratos Project
• Felix Jumping from the Christ Redemeer - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

External media
	Felix Baumgartner

Sergio Ramos

Ramos in action for Real Madrid
Personal information
Full name	Sergio Ramos García
Date of birth	(1986-03-30) 30 March 1986 (age 26)
Place of birth	Camas, Spain
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	4
Youth career
1996–2003	Sevilla
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2004	Sevilla B	25	(2)
2004–2005	Sevilla	39	(2)
2005–	Real Madrid	229	(28)
National team‡
2002	Spain U17	1	(0)
2004	Spain U19	6	(0)
2004	Spain U21	6	(0)
2005–	Spain	85	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:03, 13 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:00, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Sergio Ramos García (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈseɾxjo ˈramoz ɡaɾˈθi.a]; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Real Madrid and the Spain national football team. Mainly a central defender, he can perform equally as a right back.

After emerging through Sevilla's youth system, he went on to be a defensive mainstay for both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, gaining his first cap at the age of 18.

Club career[link]

Sevilla[link]

Born in Camas, Seville, Andalusia, Ramos began his career at local side Sevilla FC, emerging through the club's youth system alongside Jesús Navas and Antonio Puerta. He made his first team – and La Liga – debut on 1 February 2004, coming on as a second half substitute in a 0–1 away loss against Deportivo de La Coruña.

In the 2004–05 season, Ramos appeared in 31 games as Sevilla finished sixth and qualified to the UEFA Cup, scoring in home fixtures against Real Sociedad (2–1)^[1] and Real Madrid (2–2).^[2]

Real Madrid[link]

Ramos (in white) against Valencia.

Ramos celebrates with his teammates.

In the summer of 2005, 19-year old Ramos was purchased by Real Madrid for €27 million, a record for a Spanish teenager.^[3] He was the only Spanish player brought in during Florentino Pérez first stint as Real Madrid president.

At the club, Ramos was awarded the number 4 shirt, previously worn by Fernando Hierro. On 6 December 2005 he netted his first goal for the Merengues, in a 2–3 UEFA Champions League group stage loss at Olympiacos FC.^[4]

During his first seasons, Ramos played as centre back, being also used as an emergency defensive midfielder on occasion. However, with the arrival of Christoph Metzelder and Pepe in the 2007–08 season, he was again relocated to right back, whilst displaying a goalscoring instinct unusual to many defenders, netting more than 20 overall goals in Real Madrid's shirt during his first four seasons combined. On 4 May 2008, Ramos assisted Gonzalo Higuaín in the 89th minute against CA Osasuna in an eventual 2–1 away win, the match that sealed Real Madrid's 31st league championship; on the final day of the season, he scored twice in a 5–2 home win against already relegated Levante UD, one through a header and another after an individual effort, taking his league tally to five.^[5]

Ramos scored a vital goal in the Spanish Supercup contest against Valencia CF, making it 2–1 to and 4–4 on aggregate in an eventual 4–2 win (6–5), despite the fact Real Madrid playing with only nine men for a long period of time. Although he experienced a slight dip in form, he returned to his best and on 11 January 2009, netted on an acrobatic volley against RCD Mallorca (3–0 away triumph),^[6] continuing his scoring run in the following week, in a 3–1 home win against Osasuna.^[7]

Ramos was named in both FIFA and UEFA's 1754 Team of the Year, adding the FIFPro Team of the Year 2007–08 accolade. He also finished 21st in the European Player of the Year nomination for 2008.^[8]

Just at the start of the 2009–10 season, Ramos was appointed as one of Real Madrid's four captains of Real Madrid. As Pepe suffered a serious knee injury during the campaign, he was often deployed as central defender, and scored four goals in 33 league contests, but the team eventually came out empty in silverware. On 21 February 2010, he played his 200th official match for the capital team against Villarreal CF (150 in the first division).

In Real Madrid's 0–5 loss at FC Barcelona on 29 November 2010, Ramos was sent off after kicking Lionel Messi from behind, then pushing Carles Puyol in the ensuing melée.^[9] After this ejection, he equalled Fernando Hierro's previous record for red cards at the club, having played in 264 fewer games.^[10]

On 20 April 2011, Ramos started in the season's Copa del Rey final, a 1–0 win against Barcelona in Valencia. In the subsequent victory procession, while celebrating on the top of the club's bus, he accidentally lost hold of the cup, which fell under the wheels of the vehicle; the trophy was dented as a result.^[11]

On 12 July 2011, Ramos extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2017.^[12] Early into the season, he profitted from an injury to Ricardo Carvalho to return to his more natural position as stopper.

On 25 April 2012, in the Champions League semifinals' second leg against FC Bayern Munich, Ramos missed his penalty shootout attempt, shooting well wide over the bar. Real Madrid went on to lose 1–3 and be eliminated.^[13]

International career[link]

Ramos (#15) lining up for Spain against Sweden at Euro 2008.

In 2004, Ramos became an instant hit for Spain's under-21, for who he played six international matches. On 26 March 2005, in a 3–0 friendly win over China in Salamanca, he first appeared for the senior side at only 18 years and 361 days of age, making him the youngest player to play for the national team in the last 55 years (he held this record until it was broken by Barcelona's Cesc Fàbregas).

Just seven months later, Ramos scored his first two international goals in a 6–0 away thrashing of San Marino for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He was selected for the final stages in Germany and, after the international retirement of Real Madrid teammate Míchel Salgado, became the undisputed first-choice right back.

Throughout Spain's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Ramos was a regular member of the starting eleven as the national side finished first in its group, above Sweden. He scored two goals, including one in a 3–1 away win over Denmark, in 11 appearances.

In the tournament's final stages, Ramos played in all matches and minutes, except the 2–1 group stage win against Greece. In the final, his pass nearly set up Marcos Senna's first international goal, but the latter barely missed it by inches. During the celebrations after the 1–0 defeat of Germany, he wore a T-shirt in honor of close friend and former Sevilla teammate Puerta, who died in August 2007.^[14][15]

Ramos was selected in the squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, as Spain finished in third position. At the 2010 World Cup, held in the same country, he started every game, helping the team keep five clean sheets and reach the final, which they won 1–0 against the Netherlands; he topped the tournament's Castrol Performance Index with a score of 9.79.^[16]

International goals[link]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	13 October 2005	Stadio Olimpico, San Marino, San Marino	San Marino	0–3	0–6	2006 World Cup qualification
2.	13 October 2005	Stadio Olimpico, San Marino, San Marino	San Marino	0–4	0–6	2006 World Cup qualification
3.	13 October 2007	Atletion, Aarhus, Denmark	Denmark	0–2	1–3	Euro 2008 qualifying
4.	17 November 2007	Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain	Sweden	3–0	3–0	Euro 2008 qualifying
5.	3 March 2010	Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France	France	0–2	0–2	Friendly
6.	6 September 2011	Estadio Las Gaunas, Logroño, Spain	Liechtenstein	4–0	6–0	Euro 2012 qualifying

Statistics[link]

Club[link]

As of 13 May 2012 (2012 -05-13)^[update]

¹ Includes Supercopa de España.

Honours[link]

Club[link]

Real Madrid

• La Liga: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2011–12
• Copa del Rey: 2010–11
• Supercopa de España: 2008; Runner-up 2011

Country[link]

Spain U–19

• UEFA U-19 Championship: 2004

Spain

• FIFA World Cup: 2010
• UEFA European Championship: 2008
• FIFA Confederations Cup: Third-place 2009

Individual[link]

• La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2005
• ESM Team of the year: 2007–08
• FIFA/FIFPro World XI: 2008, 2011
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2008
• 2010 FIFA World Cup: Castrol Index Winner^[17]
• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2010

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sergio Ramos

• Real Madrid official profile
• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• 2010 FIFA World Cup profile
• Sergio Ramos at National-Football-Teams.com
• Sergio Ramos – FIFA competition record
• Sergio Ramos – UEFA competition record
• Transfermarkt profile
• Official website (Spanish)

Spain squads v t e Spain squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas 2 Salgado 3 Pernía 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Albelda 7 Raúl (c) 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Reyes 11 Luis García 12 A. López 13 Iniesta 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Senna 17 Joaquín 18 Fàbregas 19 Cañizares 20 Juanito 21 Villa 22 Ibáñez 23 Reina Coach: Aragonés v t e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Winners (2nd Title) 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Navarro 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Iniesta 7 Villa 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Capdevila 12 Cazorla 13 Palop 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 García 17 Güiza 18 Arbeloa 19 Senna 20 Juanito 21 Silva 22 De la Red 23 Reina Coach: Aragonés v t e Spain squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Piqué 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Pablo 7 Villa 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Capdevila 12 Busquets 13 López 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Llorente 17 Güiza 18 Riera 19 Arbeloa 20 Cazorla 21 Silva 22 Mata 23 Reina Coach: Del Bosque v t e Spain squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Piqué 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Iniesta 7 Villa 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Capdevila 12 Valdés 13 Mata 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Busquets 17 Arbeloa 18 Pedro 19 Llorente 20 Martínez 21 Silva 22 Navas 23 Reina Coach: Del Bosque v t e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Piqué 4 Martínez 5 Juanfran 6 Iniesta 7 Pedro 8 Xavi 9 Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Negredo 12 Valdés 13 Mata 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Busquets 17 Arbeloa 18 Jordi Alba 19 Llorente 20 Cazorla 21 Silva 22 Navas 23 Reina Coach: Del Bosque

Stephen Hester (born 14 December 1960), is currently the Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.^[2]

Early life[link]

Hester is the eldest son of a university professor. He was educated at Easingwold School in North Yorkshire a rural comprehensive school, and at Oxford where he studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and after chairing the Tory Reform Group, graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.^[2]

Career[link]

Hester began his career in 1982 with Credit Suisse, where he started as chairman’s assistant.^[2] In 1996 he was appointed to the executive board. Hester held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Head of Support Division, until May 2000. From May 2000 to September 2001, he was Head of Fixed Income Division.

In May 2002 he joined Abbey National as Finance Director. He then went on to become Chief Operating Officer, a position he held until November 2004, when he was appointed Chief Executive of British Land. In early 2007, eight months before British Land and other REIT's were caught in the commercial property slump, he said: "I don't believe we are about to see a market decline, but the period of sharp growth is over."^[3]

Hester was appointed non-executive deputy chairman of the newly-nationalised Northern Rock by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in March 2008,^[4] a role which he resigned from in September 2008 to take a non-executive position on the board of Royal Bank of Scotland.^[5]

Royal Bank of Scotland[link]

In November 2008 he left British Land and on 21 November 2008 replaced Fred Goodwin as Chief Executive of the RBS Group. Hester is paid an annual salary of £1.2 million by RBS.^[1] Alongside this, he took home £6.5m in bonus and pension payments in 2010.^[6] In 2012 he was offered a bonus of just under £1 million, following some considerable pressure from politicians and the public, he declined the bonus.^[7]

In December, 2009, the board of RBS, in which the United Kingdom government has an 84% stake, threatened to resign unless they were permitted to pay bonuses of £1.5bn to staff in its investment arm.^[8] The matter received heavy criticism because it followed a £850bn taxpayer bailout of the banking sector.^{[citation needed]} The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said he would not be "held to ransom".^[9]

Personal life[link]

In 2010 Hester separated from his wife,^[10] fellow banker the Canadian Barbara Abt. The couple, who met while both working at Credit Suisse, have two children. The family home is in Holland Park, west London, but they also have a 350 acre estate in Oxfordshire, Broughton Grange.^[11] One of Hester's passions is said to be the garden of Broughton Grange and development of its arboretum, which was designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and includes pleached limes, formal beds and five of the first batch of Australian Wollemi pines ever to be brought into the UK.^[2] Hester is a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.^[12]

Hester enjoys tennis, running, shooting and skiing, which for the latter he owns a chalet in Verbier, Switzerland. Hester also enjoys horse riding, as his wife is a master of fox hounds in Warwickshire: "it’s very important to keep our marriage together that I do the same as she does."^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Broughton Grange official website

Frederick Anderson "Fred" Goodwin FRSE (born 17 August 1958)^[1] is a Scottish chartered accountant and former banker who was CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) between 2001 and 2009.

From 2000 to 2008 he presided over RBS's rapid rise to global prominence as the world's largest company by assets (£1.9 trillion),^[2] and fifth-largest bank by stock market value^[3] and its even more rapid fall as RBS was forced into effective nationalisation in 2008. On 11 October 2008, Goodwin officially announced his resignation as chief executive and an early retirement, effective from 31 January 2009 – a month before RBS announced that its 2008 loss totalled £24.1 billion, the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.^[4]

From January 2010 he was employed as a senior adviser to RMJM, an international architecture firm. He left the position after less than a year.^[5][6]

Goodwin's knighthood, awarded in 2004 for "services to banking", was "cancelled and annulled" on 1 February 2012.

Life and career[link]

Early career[link]

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Goodwin is the son of a Scottish electrician^[7] and was the first of his family to go to university,^[8] attending Paisley Grammar School before studying law at Glasgow University. He joined accountants Touche Ross, and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1983. Between 1985 and 1987 he was part of a Touche Ross management consultant team at Rosyth Dockyard, and became a partner in Touche Ross in 1988. He was appointed a director of Short Brothers, and tasked with preparing the largest industrial employer in Northern Ireland for its 1989 privatisation.^[9] For Touche Ross he headed the worldwide liquidation of Bank of Credit and Commerce International after its collapse in July 1991. At 32, Goodwin was in charge of 1,000 people with teams from London to Abu Dhabi and the Cayman Islands that eventually returned over half the money from one of the most complicated, high-profile financial frauds ever.^[10]

His move into banking came through his work at Touche Ross with the National Australia Bank, contributing due diligence to its 1987 takeover of Clydesdale Bank from the then Midland Bank and again with its 1995 takeover of Yorkshire Bank.^[9] During work on the latter he caught the eye of National Australia Bank executive Don Argus, and was invited to become deputy chief executive of Clydesdale in 1995,^[7] and as per his "five-second rule", accepted on the spot^[7] rising to chief executive of National Australia's British banking operations in 1996.^[11] Around this time he gained the moniker "Fred the Shred" from City financiers, reflecting a reputation for ruthlessly generating cost savings and efficiencies whilst at Clydesdale.^[3] He was later described as "a corporate Attila", having gained a reputation in the City for being a fearsome outsider – being Scottish, and not educated at a public school or at Oxbridge – who made raids in the south and abroad when it suited him.^[12]

He joined Royal Bank of Scotland in 1998 as deputy CEO to then-CEO Sir George Mathewson, who had ambitions to make RBS a major player rather than a regional bank.^[3] RBS made waves in 2000 with its £23.6 billion takeover of NatWest, a bank three times its size.^[3] Although Goodwin's predecessor Mathewson led the deal, it was Goodwin's diligence and ability to impress investors which secured it against fierce competition from the Bank of Scotland. The Sunday Times wrote that "The NatWest deal was the making of Goodwin," with Goodwin promoted to CEO in January 2001, soon after it was secured, dedicated to continuing Mathewson's vision.^[13] Goodwin lived up to his reputation, cutting 18,000 jobs by merging parts of RBS and NatWest.^[3]

CEO of RBS (2001–2008)[link]

Expansion[link]

After the purchase of NatWest, RBS made a string of further acquisitions around the world, including the purchase of Irish mortgage provider First Active and UK insurers Churchill Insurance and Direct Line. During negotiations with Credit Suisse over the acquisition of Churchill, it is said that Goodwin maintained silence for an hour at lunch with Credit Suisse's CEO, supporting his demand for indemnity against any potential losses from with the associated The Accident Group, which would collapse soon after. He got his way.^[13] RBS also bulked up its US Citizens Financial Group, Inc. arm with a string of further deals. Then in May 2004, RBS said it would purchase Charter One Financial Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio for $10.5 billion. The deal, at a price "widely considered too high"^[14] spread the RBS's banking web across the Midwest for the first time, and made its U.S. banking operations No. 7 in the United States.^[15]

From the time that Goodwin took over as chief executive until 2007, RBS's assets quadrupled, its cost-to-income ratio improved markedly, and its profits soared. In 2006 pre-tax profits climbed 16% to £9.2 billion with significant growth coming from its investment banking business.^[16][17] By 2008 RBS was the fifth-largest bank in the world by market capitalisation.^[3] One of the factors in its rise was its enthusiasm for supporting leveraged buyouts. In 2008 it lent $9.3bn, more than double its nearest rival.^[18]

However, following investor unrest in the build-up to RBS's acquisition of a $1.6bn minority stake in Bank of China in 2005 Goodwin was criticised by some RBS shareholders for putting global expansion ahead of short-term financial returns.^[3] Between 2002 and 2005 the share price plateaued at around £17 per share, having nearly trebled between February 2000 and May 2002.^[19] Goodwin was accused of megalomania by some shareholders, as reported by Dresdner Kleinwort analyst James Eden (who said he thought the label was 'unwarranted').^[20] After the Bank of China deal, he was forced to promise RBS shareholders he would not indulge in any further big acquisitions and focus instead on growing the group organically.^[3]

However, in early 2007 Dutch bank ABN Amro was under pressure from hedge funds, including Chris Hohn of the hedge fund TCI, to break itself up in order to maximise shareholder value. ABN chief executive Rijkman Groenink suspected RBS of acting in concert with the hedge fund Tosca, which was chaired by former RBS Chairman Mathewson and recommended the takeover bid of an RBS consortium, against the proposed merger with Barclays Bank.^[21] Goodwin arranged a consortium of RBS, Fortis and former RBS shareholders Grupo Santander, to purchase the assets of ABN Amro and break them up in a three-way split. According to the proposed deal, RBS would take over ABN's Chicago operations, LaSalle Bank, and ABN's wholesale operations; while Santander would take the Brazilian operations and Fortis the Dutch operations. In a manoeuvre "labelled in all quarters as a poison pill"^[21] ABN Amro agreed to sell key RBS target LaSalle to Bank of America for $21bn, but in July 2007 the consortium offered the same $98bn for ABN's remaining assets, with a higher cash component (93%).^[22] The deal was struck in October 2007 as the global liquidity crisis began to develop, with Barclays withdrawing its EUR61bn bid and ABN's shareholders endorsing the EUR71bn RBS takeover.^[21] Coming after the nationalisation of Northern Rock due to the freezing of the wholesale money markets, the deal proved the final straw for RBS, as it severely weakened its balance sheet not only through the size of the acquisition but due to ABN Amro's substantial exposure to the US subprime mortgage crisis.^[3]

Collapse[link]

Goodwin's strategy of aggressive expansion primarily through acquisition, including the takeover of ABN Amro, eventually proved disastrous and led to the near-collapse of RBS in the October 2008 liquidity crisis. The €71 billion (£55 billion) ABN Amro deal (of which RBS's share was £10 billion^[23]) in particular stretched the bank's capital position – £16.8 billion of RBS's record £24.1 billion loss is attributed to writedowns relating to the takeover of ABN Amro.^[4]

It was not, however, the sole source of RBS's problems, as RBS was exposed to the liquidity crisis in a number of ways, particularly through US subsidiaries including RBS Greenwich Capital. Although the takeover of NatWest launched RBS's meteoric rise, it came with an investment bank subsidiary, Greenwich NatWest. RBS was unable to dispose of it as planned as a result of the involvement of the NatWest Three with the collapsed energy trader Enron.^{[clarification needed]} However the business (now RBS Greenwich Capital) started making money, and under pressure of comparison with rapidly-growing competitors such as Barclays Capital, saw major expansion in 2005-7, not least in private equity loans and in the sub-prime mortgage market.^[13] It became one of the top three underwriters of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).^[24] This increased exposure to the eventual "credit crunch" contributed to RBS's financial problems.

The third contributor to RBS's problems was its liquidity position. From a position around 2002 where the bank was essentially 'fully funded' (i.e. was funding its lending positions fully from deposits gathered from customers), the rapid growth in lending within the GBM (Global Banking and Markets) division led to a reliance on external wholesale funding. The combination of this, along with the weak equity capital position, and the massive exposure to losses on CDOs via Greenwich, were the factors that destroyed RBS.^[25] Following two rights issues in 2008, Goodwin resigned as Chief Executive.^[3] The bank experienced severe financial problems, and attempted to shore up its balance sheet with a £12 billion share issue in April 2008, one of the largest in UK corporate history.^[3] The attempt to raise an additional £7 billion capital by selling off insurers Churchill and Direct Line failed due to lack of interest in the context of the global liquidity crisis.^[26] RBS was forced in October 2008 to rely on a UK Government bank rescue package to support a shareholder recapitalisation of the bank, which resulted in the government owning a majority of the shares.

On 13 October 2008, as part of the arrangement for government support (of which Goodwin said "This isn't a negotiation, it's a drive-by shooting"^[27]), it was announced that Goodwin was to stand down as CEO, to be replaced by Stephen Hester.^[23][28] Goodwin formally left RBS on 1 January 2009.^[29] According to the Daily Mail, Goodwin had been 'regarded by analysts as among the most arrogant figures in the City'.^[30] The share price, when he became CEO of RBS, in January 2001, was 442p. After reaching £18 a share (equivalent to £6 per share after each share was split into three in May 2007^[31]), on the day of his departure it was announced that the share price was 65.70p^[32] reflecting share buybacks, rights issues as well as market valuation. Despite these developments, the Daily Telegraph insisted that "his grasp of finance is in the Alpha class" and that he was "unlikely to be in the growing queue of jobless bankers" for long.^[33] In 2008/9, the RBS group was effectively nationalised: the UK Government owns nearly 70% of the ordinary shares of the company owing to its enormous debts. By January 2009 the share price was more than 98% down from its February 2007 peak.^[14]

Media commentary and criticism[link]

During Goodwin's tenure as CEO he attracted some criticism for lavish spending, including expenditure on the construction of a £350 million headquarters at Gogarburn outside Edinburgh opened by the Queen in 2005^[34] (described by one commentator as "comically expensive",^[35]) and $500m headquarters in the US begun in 2006^[36] as well as the use of a Dassault Falcon 900 jet owned by RBS leasing subsidiary Lombard for occasional corporate travel.^[37] Revelations that RBS had spent £200 million on celebrity endorsements also went down badly.^[38]

In February 2009, RBS reported that while Goodwin was at the helm it had posted a loss of £24.1 billion, the biggest loss in UK corporate history.^[4] His responsibility for the expansion of RBS, which led to the losses, has drawn widespread criticism. During questioning by the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons on 10 February 2009, it emerged that Goodwin had no technical bank training and no formal banking qualifications.^[39]

In January 2009. The Guardian's City editor Julia Finch identified him as one of twenty-five people who were at the heart of the financial meltdown.^[40] Nick Cohen described Goodwin in The Observer as "the characteristic villain of our day", who made £20m from RBS and left the taxpayer "with an unlimited liability for the cost of cleaning up the mess".^[41] An online column by Daniel Gross labelled Goodwin "The World's Worst Banker",^[36][42] a phrase repeated elsewhere in the media.^[14][27] Gordon Prentice MP argued that his knighthood should be revoked as it is "wholly inappropriate and anomalous for someone to retain such a reward in these circumstances."^[43] A Labour MP from Scotland, Jim Sheridan, repeated the suggestion, and added that the police should investigate the activities of senior bankers.^[44]

In November 2009 as Goodwin emerged in public for the first time in months, it was revealed that he had hired Phil Hall the former editor of Hello! magazine, to help him rebuild his damaged reputation. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Hall said "...he knows that what he did has caused problems...He is in a pretty difficult situation. He's not a criminal...You don't realise the impact all this is having on him and his family. He just wants to get his children through this – that's his only concern."^[45]

In September 2011, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time of the RBS collapse noted in leaked excerpts from his upcoming book,'Back From The Brink: 1,000 Days At No 11' that Mr Goodwin behaved "as if he was off to play a game of golf" while officials struggled to prevent a meltdown. Mr Darling describes the secret discussions which led to the Labour government effectively nationalising RBS and Mr Goodwin being heavily criticised for his management style and conduct and wrote that Goodwin “deserved to be a pariah”.

Size of pension[link]

Media and government criticism increased on disclosure in February 2009 of the size of Goodwin's pension. The treasury minister Lord Myners had indicated to RBS that there should be "no reward for failure",^[46] but Goodwin's pension entitlement, represented by a notional fund of £8 million, was doubled, to a notional fund of £16 million or more, because under the terms of the scheme he was entitled to receive, at age 50, benefits which would otherwise have been available to him only if he had worked until age 60.^[47]

Sir Philip Hampton, RBS's new chairman, stated that as a result Goodwin is drawing £693,000 a year (later revised to £703,000^[48] due to Goodwin working an extra month in the new financial year^[49]), and disclosed that under the RBS pension scheme Goodwin is entitled to draw the pension already, at age 50, because he had been asked to leave employment early, rather than having been dismissed. A pensions expert suggested that this meant Goodwin had received a substantial payoff from his early retirement, as it would cost around £25 million to buy such a pension and his pension 'pot' amounted to £16 million.^[29] When the matter became public in late February 2009, Goodwin defended his decision to refuse to reduce his pension entitlement in a letter to Lord Myners on 26 February,^[50] pointing out that on leaving in October 2008 he had given up a contractual 12-month notice period worth around £1.29 million and share options worth around £300,000.^[51] In March 2009 Lord Myners revealed that part of the reason Goodwin's pension was so large was that RBS treated him as having joined the pension scheme from age 20 (instead of 40, when he actually joined) and ignored contributions to his pension from previous employment.^[52]

Stephen Timms, a government finance minister, protested publicly about the matter. He said that it would be referred to the UK Financial Investments Limited.^[53] The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, ordered lawyers to explore legal avenues to recover the money,^[47] – though the legal options appear to be limited^[54] – and Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared that "a very substantial part of it [Goodwin's pension] should be returned."^[55] Former deputy PM John Prescott called on the government to withdraw Goodwin's pension and tell Goodwin to "sue if you dare."^[55] Liberal Democrats Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said that "What the government could do is say that if the company had gone bust, which it would have had it not been a bank, he would have been entitled to a compassionate payout of £27,000 a year, and if he does not like that he could sue."^[55] Cable added that Goodwin "obviously has got no sense of shame."^[56]

In evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on 3 March 2009 John Kingman, CEO of UK Financial Investments Ltd, the company set up to manage the government's holdings in banks, directly blamed the Royal Bank of Scotland board for awarding its former CEO a discretionary pension. Kingman said that the government was aware of the size of the pension pot in October 2008 (before UKFI was established), but that "what the government was not told was that this payment was in any way discretionary". He accused the RBS board of not sharing material facts with Financial Services Secretary Lord Myners. RBS could have terminated Mr Goodwin's contract as CEO with 12 months' notice, so avoiding the more expensive pension award. Kingman told the committee that UKFI was investigating whether RBS had "full knowledge of the alternatives" when it granted Mr Goodwin his pension.^[57][58] A letter from RBS setting out the background to the October 2008 decision on Goodwin's employment termination, the corporate approval process of the pension award and HM Treasury involvement was submitted to the Treasury Select Committee. Had he been dismissed instead of accepting early retirement, his annual pension would have been £416,000, payable from age 60.^[59] If the government had not stopped RBS from going bankrupt, his pension would have been paid out of the pension-protection fund and been £28,000 a year, starting at age 65.^[60]

His home in Edinburgh was vandalised on 25 March 2009 by an anti-banking group apparently known as "Bank Bosses Are Criminals" according to a newspaper who were sent details of the attack by the group. In their message, they said

Several windows in his house were smashed, and a car damaged in the drive below.^[61]

On 18 June 2009 RBS stated that following negotiation an agreement was reached between RBS and Goodwin to reduce his pension to £342,500 a year from the £555,000 set in February after he took out an estimated £2.7 million tax-free lump sum. The agreement followed the completion of RBS' internal inquiry into Goodwin's conduct, which found no wrong-doing.^[62]

Superinjunction[link]

On 10 March 2011, John Hemming, a backbench Liberal Democrat MP, referred in Parliament (under parliamentary privilege) to the supposed existence of "a superinjunction preventing [Goodwin] from being identified as a banker".^[63] As matters discussed in Parliament can be freely reported by the press, newspapers including The Guardian,^[64] The Independent,^[65] and The Daily Telegraph,^[66] reported that Goodwin had obtained such an injunction, while still remaining unable to explain what information the injunction restricted the publication of.^[66]

On 19 May 2011, Lord Stoneham, speaking in the House of Lords, asked the Government "how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir [Sic] Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague?"^[67] Later that day, the High Court varied the order, allowing Goodwin's name to be published, but continued it in relation to the identity of the lady involved.^[68] In his judgment, Mr Justice Tugendhat noted that the order had not been a superinjunction as it had been published in anonymised form on the British and Irish Legal Information Institute website. He also stated that the injunction had not prevented Goodwin being identified as a banker, but instead prevented the person applying for the injunction from being identified as a banker, and that this was done because "if the applicant were identified as a banker that would be likely to lead to his being named, which would defeat the purpose of granting him anonymity". The judge criticised press reporting of the case as including "misleading and inaccurate statements".^[69]

Other activities[link]

Goodwin has chaired various government task forces including one examining the work of credit unions^[70] and the New Deal programme. He is a former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. Goodwin became chairman of The Prince's Trust in 2003. It was announced in January 2009 that his tenure would not be renewed for another three-year term, which he left in June 2009.^[71]

In January 2009 it was rumoured that Goodwin was being considered as a replacement for Max Mosley as President of the FIA (Formula One's governing body) as Mosley was due to step down in 2009. Goodwin, a motoring enthusiast, had been "instrumental" in RBS's sponsorship deal with the Williams Formula One team.^[72] In February 2009 RBS announced that the £10 million-a-year deal, struck in 2005, would end in 2010, as part of a strategic review of all sponsorship activity.^[73]

Personal life[link]

In 1990 Goodwin married Joyce Elizabeth McLean, and they have two children.^{[citation needed]} One of his hobbies is restoring classic cars – the first, a Hillman Imp, bought from the proceeds of a summer job.^[72] He is also a keen golfer and Formula One racing fan.^[74] Other pastimes have included annual shooting trips to Spain with Santander chairman Emilio Botín.^[13]

In 2010, after the family home in The Grange suffered from vandalism, the family bought Graeme Souness's former home in Colinton.^[75] In August 2011, Goodwin moved out of the family home in Colinton after being asked to leave by his wife. The move followed media reports of an extra-marital affair with a colleague at the Royal Bank of Scotland.^[76]

Awards and honours[link]

Goodwin was knighted in 2004 for his services to the banking industry.^[77] However, on 1 February 2012, Goodwin's knighthood was "cancelled and annulled" by the Queen on the advice of her government and the Honours Forfeiture Committee.^[78][79] A Cabinet Office spokesman said:^[80]

The annulment proved controversial amongst political and business figures, who pointed out the three-and-a-half year gap since the near-collapse of RBS, and the coincidence of the referral taking place during a political argument over bonus payments to the current head of the bank. Alistair Darling described the annulment as having appeared to have been taken "on a whim", whilst the Institute of Directors warned against creating "anti-business hysteria".^[81]

Other awards received by Goodwin include:

• December 2002 – Forbes (global edition) "Businessman of the Year", which described him as an original thinker with a fast-forward frame of mind who had transformed RBS from a nonentity into a global name
• 2003 – 2006 – No.1 in Scotland on Sunday's Power 100^[27][82][83]
• December 2003 – "European Banker of the Year" in 2003
• June 2004 – awarded an honorary doctor of Laws by the University of St Andrews^[84]
• July 2008 – awarded an honorary fellowship by the London Business School^[85]

See also[link]

• 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package
• Tom McKillop
• UK Financial Investments Limited
• 2011 British privacy injunctions controversy

References[link]