Page 15 - RBS GRG F Case Study

Tomlinson Report

In 2013, Lawrence Tomlinson, an

independent businessman who was

the Entrepreneur in Residence at the
Department for Business, Innovation

and Skills was asked by the then UK business secretary

Vince Cable to investigate problems small- and medium-

sized businesses were having with RBS. Cable also asked

two consultancies, Mazar's and Promontory, to do a

report on the GRG division in RBS for the Financial

Conduct Authority.

In November 2013 the Tomlinson Report (11,29,30)
claimed that RBS made money out of struggling

businesses by placing them into RBS's "turnaround

division" — the GRG division claiming that, these

businesses were engineered into default. The GRG unit

allegedly charged higher fees and margins for the

struggling businesses in the GRG unit and this, in turn,

allowed the bank's property division, West Register, to

purchase devalued assets. Tomlinson accused RBS of

systematically wrecking viable businesses.