RBS chairman Philip Hampton on saving banks

Royal Bank of Scotland chairman and a former FD Philip Hampton has described the actions of its then-board that led to its collapse “a series of major misjudgments about lending decisions and the acquisition of ABN Amro” that were simply “very big bad business judgments” and “not acts of criminal vandalism”.

In an interview with the Guardian, Hampton – who has served as group FD of British Steel, British Gas, British Telecom and Lloyds Bank – talks about his experience coming in to chair the group amid the banking crisis and about the cut-throat dealmaking that has characterised much of his career.

The Guardian details how Hampton recalls one negotiation with Blackburn Rovers owner Jack Walker, who “jumped on to a lawyer’s desk with his trousers down to declare: ‘You’ve taken everything off me, I’ve got nothing else’.”

Click here to read the full Guardian interview