Faffing all the way from the bank


Scottish Borders Council Highheidyins have been forced to admit (says todays Berwickshire) that they have invested £10m in two collapsed Icelandic Banks-the quaintly named Landsbanki and the Heritable. This admission came a few days after the publication of a self congratulatory report praising SBC's 'financial effectiveness' and contrasting this good husbandry with less competent mangement of 'our peers'.

Npw it is said that these investment were a result of 'active management' -ie 'visionary and pro-active' and had it not happened the SBC's coffers would not have benefitted from the £244,000 high interest earned. No one has yet mentioned amongst the financial gurus in St Boswells that if this investment had been put in a local institution- say HBOS to hazard a wild guess, yes, they would have earned less interest but would still have the £10 million. But that is not visionary, nor pro-active, merely prudent and sensible.

The director of Corporate Resources proudly claims that the SBC does not have a liquidity problem. So that is alright then. Don't really need the dosh. And the usually sensible Mr Cook, a Berwickshire Councillor, defending the investments dismissed 'claims by some that warnings were given about the Icelandic banks' If they had been 'we would had that reported back to us'

Again to quote Mr Cook

: 'Local authorities have a duty to make any investment secure and get the best return on it'
Amen.

Did he say 'secure'?

Come on the Borders Party. Get your teeth into this one

(The image, from Flickr, is a nice Icelandic rural scene. One hopes that the mortgages on these properties are secure. HBOS perhaps)

Labels: Financial mismanagement, Icelandic Banks, SBC

  ¶ 11:41 AM