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RBS accused of wrong-doing in conflict-of-interest case

RBS

The FCA is currently investigating RBS regarding a potential conflict-of-interest case featured in an article by journalist Ian Fraser. The article in question touches on the case of former Aberdeen oil firm, Stable Holdings and its chief executive, Rod Coffey.

In the piece, Mr. Coffey accuses RBS of ‘stitching up’ his former business due to the bank’s decision to appoint PriceWaterhouseCoopers as the company to review alleged wrongdoing by RBS’s Global Restructuring Group (GRG), despite PWC being the company that oversaw Stable Holding’s administration process.

Mr. Coffey states that PWC, together with two other firms appointed by RBS to review GRG cases – the law firms Dentons and CMS Cameron McKenna – could appear to be conflicted due to the volume and nature of work they have already undertaken for the bank.

Abhishek Sachdev, CEO of Vedanta Hedging, has advised businesses in court cases against RBS and commented in regards to this case;

“How can Dentons be expected to be fair and reasonable when, for the past four years, they have been vigorously defending the bank from customers who think the bank destroyed their businesses?”

We await to find out the findings of the FCA report. To read more about this case, please click here.

Vedanta Hedging eagerly await the GRG review from the FCA (which is more than 18 months late), but we are not optimistic at all about the real ultimate benefit it will provide to affected SMEs’. This is because the sheer cost of doing so will not be permitted by HM Treasury; hence we believe this exercise will not have a material impact upon RBS / Natwest.