October 2008 was a dark month for British lenders. The taxpayer bailouts necessary to avoid another Lehman-style bankruptcy cast a long shadow over the sector. The Royal Bank of Scotland was the costliest collapse and rescue in the world; its chief executive, Fred “the Shred” Goodwin, is still remembered as the unacceptable face of British banking. Only now, 14 years later, is the pall beginning to recede. For the first time since the financial crisis, the government stake in RBS — renamed NatWest Group — is now less than 50 per cent. NatWest’s return to private sector control was rightly heralded by the Treasury as an “important moment” — and an indicator of a bright future for British banking
2008年10月對英國銀行業來說是黑暗的一個月。爲避免再出現雷曼式破產事件而不得不動用納稅人的資金進行救助，給銀行業蒙上了一層厚厚的陰霾。蘇格蘭皇家銀行(Royal Bank of Scotland)是世界上破產和救助成本最高的銀行；其執行長「剪刀手」弗雷德•古德溫(Fred Goodwin)仍被看作是英國銀行業一個不受歡迎的人物。直到14年後的今天，這層陰霾纔開始消退。自金融危機以來，英國政府所持蘇格蘭皇家銀行——後來更名爲國民西敏寺銀行集團(NatWest Group)——股份首次低於50%。財政部稱國民西敏集團迴歸民營部門的控制是「重要時刻」——這是恰當的說法——也預示著英國銀行業的光明前景。