Monday, January 19, 2009

Bankers will be Bankers

It seems that banks and building societies are ignoring bonuses when assessing mortgage applications.
Melanie Bien of broker Savills Private Finance says: "It's basic salary only. We had a client who works for one of the big investment banks, who earns £140,000 per year in basic salary plus a bonus of £1.3m a year for the past three years. But Woolwich would only take the basic into account."
So this banker has had £3.9m over the last three years *AND* still wants a mortgage. Where did the money go? Can you drink almost £4 million in three years? Can you snort almost £4 million in three years?

The only thing I can assume is that this banker donated almost £4 million to orphanages for children in Uganda and kept it quiet. Is that likely? Maybe.

What would you have done with almost £4 million over three years? I can be damn sure even with my level of financial illiteracy I would not now be applying for a mortgage.

2 comments:

Nick Matthews said...

The only reason would be if the rate at which you could borrow was less than you could get by investing. But what is about us British why have we not tar and feathered these bastards! Why are not the rotting corpses of bankers hanging from lamposts are we so dumb that we do not even know we have been robbed!

Neil said...

Yes.

Careers departments at our top institutions of higher learning are complaining that their students all want to be bankers or management consultants but there are now very few vacancies so the little darlings will be disappointed. My advice is go and so something else. Dream.

I can see the point of bankers when they put the money up for an enterprise that improves peoples lives; an enterprise that gives, for example, people in deprived areas jobs and money and the hope that goes with it. Investment in solid things that touch peoples lives for the better.

Bankers engaging in pure abstract capitalism by buying and selling financial derivatives is just self aggrandisement for bankers. It benefits no-one but bankers (and sellers of the flash stuff that bankers buy).