Bad banker degree kicked into long grass

The University’s recent decision to allow Fred Goodwin to hold on to his honorary doctorate has been seen as controversial not just in Students’ Association, but also across the UK.

In 2002, Forbes magazine named the bad banker ‘Businessman of the Year’. He has featured in Scotland on Sunday’s ‘Power 100’ and in 2004, he received a knighthood for ‘services to banking’, the same year he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by the University of St Andrews. Yet just 8 years later, he was placed on Time Magazine’s list of the ‘25 people to Blame for the Financial Crisis’. So where did it all go wrong for Fred ‘The Shred’ Goodwin?

Mr Goodwin (he lost the ‘Sir’ last week) was born and bred in Scotland. Raised in Paisley, he then went on to study law at the University of Glasgow. After qualifying as a chartered accountant, Fred held positions at banks across the world, gaining the nickname ‘Fred the Shred’ for his ruthless approach to cost savings. In 1998, Goodwin joined The Royal Bank of Scotland, quickly succeeding Sir George Mathewson as CEO.

Goodwin subsequently received a knighthood in 2004, for his service to banking in the United Kingdom. On 1st February 2012, his knighthood was revoked, with the Cabinet Office recognising that “widespread concern about Fred Goodwin’s decisions meant that the retention of a Knighthood for ‘services to banking’ could not be sustained”.  Prior to the financial crisis of 2008, Goodwin had been attempting to transform and expand RBS with takeover after takeover, stretching RBS’s capital reserves to breaking point. Decisions made by Mr Goodwin led to a grand total of £45.5bn of taxpayers’ money being pumped into RBS to ensure its survival.

After Goodwin’s ‘Sir’ was very publicly removed, many began to question how long Goodwin would hold on to his honorary doctorate from St Andrews. The answer: he’s keeping it. Despite calls from the Students’ Association to revoke the degree, the University announced that Mr Goodwin will be holding on to his doctorate. Speaking of this controversial decision, a spokeswoman said, “The University is sensitive to the varied opinions expressed about Mr Goodwin’s part in the collapse of RBS and its damaging effects on the economy and the lives of many thousands of people. Revoking the degree, however, cannot change history, nor ameliorate the harm done by the banking collapse.”