Simon English: Did Goodwin have to get hostile with NatWest?
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Outlook Perhaps Fred Goodwin doesn't need another nail in the coffin that is his professional and personal reputation. But I have one.
Mr Goodwin's supposedly finest hour, the deal on which his early claim to greatness was based, was the £21bn takeover of NatWest that transformed RBS from some-Scottish-bank to a serious player. Audacious. Bold. Everyone said so at the time, possibly including me.
A banker who worked on that deal offered a different take.
He says that if Mr Goodwin hadn't been so monumentally impossible, so bullying, so arrogant, he could have got the bank for far less without having to make a hostile bid.
The NatWest advisers and the board would have recommended a takeover if only they didn't find that every meeting with the RBS chief executive left them somewhere between baffled and furious.
Perhaps the truth about Mr Goodwin is that he was an awkward fellow who rose to prominence by complete accident.
In the end the deal went through because NatWest's beleaguered investors thought Mr Goodwin couldn't possibly be worse than incumbent chief executive, Derek Wanless.
Mr Wanless is dead, but might be deserving of a posthumous apology.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments