RBS Chairman Warns Of Euro Split In 2012
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9:22pm UK, Wednesday December 21, 2011
Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Philip Hampton made the prediction during Jeff Randall’s Christmas Dinner, a seasonal discussion between business leaders on Sky News.
He said: “I think it’s likely that one country, a small country will drop out.
“It could be any of them because I think that some of these things will be driven by political events, as much as by economic circumstances and social unrest, and all of those sorts of things. But I think there is a very good chance that one country will fall out.”
Sir Philip stated such an event would “produce big strains” in Europe’s banking system.
“At the more extreme levels of that you would get a wave of recapitalisations of banks by governments throughout Europe,” he added.
:: Read more on our page dedicated to the eurozone crisis
The chairman of RBS, which came near to bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis and is now 83% owned by the taxpayer, also admitted things could still go horribly wrong in Britain’s banking system.
He said: “I do not think the system has been fixed. I think it is very much on the mend.”
He then joked: “There is a ghoulish expression used in the City that the British banks are the ideal looking horse in the glue factory or the ideal looking pig in the slaughterhouse.”
Jeff Randall and guests (from right to left, Alison Cooper, Sir Philip Hampton and Justin King) discuss their predictions for 2012
Meanwhile, the boss of Sainsbury’s told the group that charity shops can have a detrimental effect on the British high street.
The supermarket giant’s chief executive Justin King said: “Ultimately lots of charity shops potentially undermine vibrant new small businesses starting up, so I do not think we should assume that they are necessarily a benign force.”
Imperial Tobacco’s boss Alison Cooper also attended the gathering for the Jeff Randall Live Christmas special.
She suggested that Chancellor George Osborne may need to be prepared to deviate from his rigid deficit reduction strategy, known as Plan A, during the coming year.
Ms Cooper said: “There will need to be some agility around it if necessary, on the basis of how the world evolves and to make sure that we are responsive to that but the core of it will remain.”
:: Watch Jeff Randall’s Christmas Dinner on Sky News at 7.30pm on Thursday
source : news.sky.com
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Submited at Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 12:00 am on Business by arrisa
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