The Bank that almost broke Britain

This is the extraordinary story of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and how it went from being in danger of being absorbed by larger banks in the 80s, and grew and grew to become the 5th largest back in the world by 2008, which is when a series of bad decisions almost brought down the whole UK economy.

The film is an interwoven story of the days of the collapse in 2008, and flashbacks looking at how it had grown so large over the preceding decades, and rather than being the subject of a merger was itself taking over scores of smaller banks around the world.

At the centre of the story is Fred Goodwin, who on the one hand steered it to unprecedented success, and whose recklessness at the beginning of the collapse of the sub-prime market in the States decided to push through an acquisition which soon left his own bank with insufficient funds to continue day to day activities.

The story is presented to show how the actions of the government of the day took the necessary steps to avoid disaster by bailing out RBS and 9 other banks on the brink of collapse with £50 billion of taxpayers money. That is scandal enough. But the truth is that Goodwin who brought the bank – and the country – almost to collapse enjoys somewhere in the region of £50 million / year in retirement funds as a payoff for his services.

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