Saturday, December 24, 2011

How RBS failed

Royal Bank of Scotland was among the notable failures in the sub-prime crisis. The UK's FSA has published a comprehensive report on the failure. The acquisition of ABN Amro was an important cause as was the bank's dependence on wholesale market funding, and its plunge into certain risky assets. The report lists other factors as well. I was drawn to the analysis of the governance issues in the report, whether there were any conspicuous failures on the part of the board.

It turns out that there were none for which legal action can be taken against the board. The acquisition of ABN Amro, being a hostile acquisition, was not done with the necessary diligence but it had the board's approval. I read the section on governance carefully, and I find that the only thing the FSA can pin on the board is that it did not question or challenge the CEO strongly enough on this and other issues.

If that is a failure, then the vast majority of boards would be guilty of it. Those who talk of the board challenging or opposing the CEO have no clue about the culture that permeates boardrooms. In this culture, any sort of serious questioning of the CEO is a no-no. It is a very cheery, backslapping culture in which nobody makes wrong noises. If we want bank boards or any board to be more active and more questioning, we need to revisit the issue of independent directors and bring in people who are not appointed by management. Then, we may get a vestige of independence on the board. Today's independent directors can only collect their fee and commission and enjoy their lunch and drinks. Bank boards can't prevent bank failure, only stringent regulation can. More in my ET column, Boards and bank failure. 

The Telegraph carries an investigative report on the RBS failure. 

Thursday, December 15, 2011

India's growth outlook

I present an optimistic view of growth prospects in my ET column, It can't be worse than 2009. This was before the latest figures showing a deceleration in IIP came out.

Why we need to retain AFSPA in Kashmir

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act has come under fire from human rights groups in Kashmir. A letter to the editor in Business Standard has a hilarious take on why it is still required.