Page 248 - Bank Case Studies

McEwan said:

"Reaching this settlement in principle with the

US Department of Justice will, when finalised,

allows us to deal with this significant

remaining legacy issue and is the price we

have to pay for the global ambitions pursued

by this bank before the crisis."

In December 2017 RBS had announced it was closing 259
U.K. branches, claiming the move reflected the growing

popularity of online banking.

In July 2018 the FCA confirmed that it had no power to take

action against the RBS or its former bosses saying:

“It is important to recognise that the business of GRG

was largely unregulated and the FCA’s powers to take

action in such circumstances, even where the

mistreatment of customers has been identified and

accepted, are very limited.” (33)

But, in a statement it made it quite clear that it has been left
less than impressed with the conduct of the GRG unit. It

found a failure on the part of GRG and RBS to:

“recognise and manage conflicts of interest”. It said the
bank did not have “appropriate governance, policies,

procedures and processes ... to ensure that a

reasonable balance was struck between the interests of

the bank and those of its SME customers”. (34)