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| Libor-rigging scandal: RBS chairman answers your questions | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland will be appearing live on guardian.co.uk to answer readers' questions about the £390m fine the bank is paying to settle allegations it rigged Libor. The webchat will take place from 12.30pm GMT on 7 February. | The chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland will be appearing live on guardian.co.uk to answer readers' questions about the £390m fine the bank is paying to settle allegations it rigged Libor. The webchat will take place from 12.30pm GMT on 7 February. |
| Sir Philip Hampton is chairman of the bank which was bailed out in October 2008, eventually with a total of £45bn of taxpayer funds. | Sir Philip Hampton is chairman of the bank which was bailed out in October 2008, eventually with a total of £45bn of taxpayer funds. |
| He will answer questions about the £390m fine that regulators in the UK and the US have levelled on the bank for the rigging of the key benchmark rate which is used to set the rate of borrowing on £300tn of financial products around the world. | He will answer questions about the £390m fine that regulators in the UK and the US have levelled on the bank for the rigging of the key benchmark rate which is used to set the rate of borrowing on £300tn of financial products around the world. |
| Hampton, who was appointed chairman after the taxpayer bailout, has said that 21 of the bank's 137,000 staff were involved in the manipulation of Libor. In his formal response to the fine, he wrote: | Hampton, who was appointed chairman after the taxpayer bailout, has said that 21 of the bank's 137,000 staff were involved in the manipulation of Libor. In his formal response to the fine, he wrote: |
| We have to fix the culture in the banking industry. The most important part of that is focusing our efforts on the needs of our customers and acting with integrity. And it also involves facing up to the Bank's past failings, no matter how uncomfortable that is. That is why those responsible have left the organisation or been subject to disciplinary action. The Board has also used all means possible to ensure the gravity of this issue is reflected in the remuneration received by employees. No one should be left in any doubt about how seriously RBS takes these failings. | We have to fix the culture in the banking industry. The most important part of that is focusing our efforts on the needs of our customers and acting with integrity. And it also involves facing up to the Bank's past failings, no matter how uncomfortable that is. That is why those responsible have left the organisation or been subject to disciplinary action. The Board has also used all means possible to ensure the gravity of this issue is reflected in the remuneration received by employees. No one should be left in any doubt about how seriously RBS takes these failings. |
Please post your questions for the RBS chairman in the comments section | Please post your questions for the RBS chairman in the comments section below |
| Sir Philip Hampton is live online and answering questions now | |
| Hello, | |
| I'm online and will be answering questions now. I'm sure you will not hold back! | |
| OmarSelim asks: | |
| 1- do you dispute that rigging interest rate is a major crime that warrants criminal prosecution? 2- Do you accept that the buck stops with you in the LIBOR crime? 3- Do you believe you deserve the remuneration you are getting? | |
| Sir Philip responds: | |
| 1. If people break the law they should face the full weight of the criminal justice system. We have already seen traders at other banks arrested over LIBOR manipulation and I expect we will see more. That is how it should be. If people don't end up in prison over this scandal I worry it will further perpetuate the sense that there is one rule for the financial system and another set of rules for the rest of society. That's dangerous and it's wrong. In the case of former RBS traders the authorities now have plenty of evidence to look at and I expect they will be doing just that. If we can help them, we will. | |
| 2. I am the Chairman and the buck stops with me. That's one reason I'm here answering questions today. There is no doubt that mistakes have occurred on my watch and of course I regret that. In addition to the major physical restructuring of the bank - perhaps the biggest turnaround of its kind in the world - Stephen Hester and I certainly knew that cleaning up the culture of RBS needed to be a priority. Yesterday's settlement was painful evidence that the culture of a 150,000 person organisation cannot be turned around overnight. My view is that it's easy to come up with flashy statements on culture and whipping bankers into shape, but much harder to make the thousands of little changes that will be required to make a real difference. | |
| 3. my remuneration is set by other people according to market norms. It is high, but I don't think the pay for the RBS chairman has moved since 2006. | |
| jamesgor asks: | |
| Do you see any connection at all between the cultural imperatives which lead to the libor fixing and your current total lack of focus on customer care in your high street banks? | |
| Sir Philip Hampton responds: | |
| @jamesgor - We are hugely focused on customers in the high street and throughout our business. It's also true that customers have not been given sufficient attention by the banking industry, for many years. It's a key thing that needs to be fixed. It is linked absolutely to the Libor issues which again show scant regard to the interests of customers. |