Banks!

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by polly

I think we need to think about the ethics of BRITISh councils investing in foreign banks
Maybe if they had kept their money in the country of origin UK banking would have been stronger.
The reason for foreign investment is clearly to earn a few extra bob in interest but as we have seen investment is always a gamble and gambling is always risky especially in a foreign market.

As someone who pays council tax in this country I would like to see my money stay in the country

Yes polly thats all well and good but councils are advised by HMG to invest in places like Iceland to get the best return on their money, your damned if you do and damned if you don't

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Benipete

Banks decided to become Building Societies and Building Societies decided to become banks.
That was fine for me because I was in some of both.
But greed took over,Salesmen got their commission and then left us all in the mire.
Of course me being the font of all knowledge had long departed and am now even as you read this living the life of Riley.

That Riley has a lot to answer for Beni

[garinda]

Mum's gone to Iceland.



I think I might know where all the missing money is.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

So how do you define a British bank?

Originally Posted by jambutty

What about one that has its headquarters in the UK?

I had a feeling you would say that - but have you considered what these 'British banks' do with the money invested in them?

Also, what happens when a British bank is taken over by an international bank? (HSBC for instance) should all the account holders have closed their accounts and transferred elsewhere?

[polly]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I had a feeling you would say that - but have you considered what these 'British banks' do with the money invested in them?

Also, what happens when a British bank is taken over by an international bank? (HSBC for instance) should all the account holders have closed their accounts and transferred elsewhere?

Yes, HSBC account holders should have moved banks. Without doubt and I am one who through complacency and lack of time hasnt. I now cant talk to anyone in my own language and have an account manager who tells me that the people at the end of the phone in Malaysia have more authority than he has!
As soon as all this business sorts itself out I am moving accounts

A British bank has to be defined as one who has most of its employees based in the UK. It is time we all started asking a lot more questions about our banks.

[WillowTheWhisp]

But banking is internationally interactive these days.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

But banking is internationally interactive these days.

It might be but you want to be able to understand the person on the phone telling you how much you owe them

[Royboy39]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

But banking is internationally interactive these days.

And.............It's gone Tits up.............

[derekgas]

Originally Posted by entwisi

Posted via Mobile Device

DD's ar dead easy to sort. You tell the bank to refund them under the DD guarantee and they must do so that day.

Then its up to the originator to request them again.

bTW, its not likely to be the bank at fault here as DDs are pulled by the company asking for money not the bank making a 'set' payment.

Please make sure you blame the right people

Didnt know this Entwisi, thanks, but I must tell you that two of them were within the same bank! And were staff wages, not companies!

[derekgas]

Originally Posted by andrewb

Now isn't the time to blame capitalism. Lets blame those that failed to regulate the banking sector, because we had a damn sight better regulation before the Bank of England Act 1998 was introduced. People have been able to borrow far too much, and banks, bankers, have been allowed to lend far too much.

Markets are not perfect. They need careful regulation, which they have lacked under Brown/Bush. They are considerably more perfect than state ownership however.

As expected, a very conservative view, but neither party have not regulated many, many things which should have been regulated better, especially within thier own parties.

[polly]

If banking is 'international' why are my bank charges still at British rates and not Indian? I would happily put up with not being able to communicate with the bank if they charged me one rupee.

This is the trouble with this country we except what we get instead of demanding what we want. Our politicians have this attitude and it means we as a country never get what we need which in this case is our own banking system back, we need to be in charge not America, we are in this mess because of them

[Neil]

Originally Posted by derekgas

Didnt know this Entwisi, thanks, but I must tell you that two of them were within the same bank! And were staff wages, not companies!

Are you sure they were direct debits? Sounds more like standing order or more likely BACS payments if it was wages.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Neil

It might be but you want to be able to understand the person on the phone telling you how much you owe them

The local branch of a very British bank where I do the majority of my banking has members of staff with foreign accents which some people find hard to understand. So just saying bank with a British bank doesn't mean you will get a local accent even over the counter.

Originally Posted by Royboy39

And.............It's gone Tits up.............

Indeed it has but that couldn't be avoided by individual account holders at grass roots level. That's the point I'm trying to make. Put your money in a bank which has it's HQ in this country but how do you know which foreign countries they invest in?

Gone are the days when we had 'Blackburn Trustee Savings Bank' and its head office was on Lord Street West in Blackburn. You knew where you were in them days.

Originally Posted by polly

If banking is 'international' why are my bank charges still at British rates and not Indian? I would happily put up with not being able to communicate with the bank if they charged me one rupee.

This is the trouble with this country we except what we get instead of demanding what we want. Our politicians have this attitude and it means we as a country never get what we need which in this case is our own banking system back, we need to be in charge not America, we are in this mess because of them

And whilst the international interaction was getting people a good rate on their savings and affordable mortgages was anybody complaining? Were people demanding higher interest on their loans and lower interest on their savings? Of course not. America isn't 'in charge'. Economics is a complicated subject.

[polly]

Well Gordon Brown and the French president whose name escapes me, both seemed agreed on Tv this morning that the whole problem originates in America of course it maybe that someone on Accy Web knows better.

It seems to me that the only semi safe and ethical place to keep money nowadays is in a credit union (Does Accy have one?) Apparently they are only allowed to take investments from local people and of course they lend at lower rates to local people. It seems to me that this is the 'back to the roots' approach the ordinary person needs just now

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by polly

Well Gordon Brown and the French president whose name escapes me, both seemed agreed on Tv this morning that the whole problem originates in America of course it maybe that someone on Accy Web knows better.

It seems to me that the only semi safe and ethical place to keep money nowadays is in a credit union (Does Accy have one?) Apparently they are only allowed to take investments from local people and of course they lend at lower rates to local people. It seems to me that this is the 'back to the roots' approach the ordinary person needs just now

It has long been said polly, that when America sneezes the World catches a cold, like it or lump it the yanks contol most things world wide when it comes to global finances, its not just Britain that is affected