BKL corporate finance partner Daniel Shear comments for the UK200Group on news that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has admitted it mis-sold a number of loans to small businesses and is preparing to review 1,800 sales.
‘We’re unsure what’s more surprising here – the fact that RBS owned up to the potential mis-sale of loans under the EFG scheme following complaints by some customers without being forced into an agreement with the FCA; or that customers honestly believed the security provided by the Government was for their benefit rather than the bank’s. How could a defaulting customer really expect to benefit? Then again how could RBS really allow customers to borrow under that belief? It just beggars belief.
Anyway, credit must be given where it’s due so we admit it’s positive of RBS to publically admit to this latest mis-selling scandal. We wonder how many other banks will follow suit. Or are we to believe that all the other banks behaved impeccably when selling loans under the EFG scheme? We won’t comment on that – we’re too busy watching a pig flying by.’