"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Monday, November 19, 2007

Adam Applegarth interview on June 28th - a revealing glimpse into the mind of a financial criminal

Adam Applegarth CEO (now almost EX CEO) of Northern Rock gave an interview published on June 28th on "Thisismoney.co.uk.

This was 2 days before the period end when six month interim accounts were drawn up by the Directors, and just after the company isued a profits warning.

It is worth remembering that he had sold on Lord Patel's birthday 25th Jan 2006 52,253 shares @ 957p = £500,061.21 and the next day 111,426 shares @ 957p = £1,066,346.82).

April 2007 he bought under a company wide share scheme 262 shares for a approx £3,000...

Quotes :

"All of Applegarth's wealth is tied up with Northern, where he has his mortgage, current account and his company pension. "

"I genuinely think Northern Rock shares are a steal, so to a certain extent we are vulnerable because we are small. Of course it would be good to remain independent, but we are a PLC and I am not the master of that destiny. "

"Bear Stearns reckons fast-growing Northern's business model is flawed in the current environment, when Libor is accelerating faster than the Bank of England base rate. "

"This is the stickiest rate environment there could be for us, yet we are still getting a 15% profit increase. But that kind of gets lost in the wash," ( The 6 months results showed a profit increase of 1%)

"There are always good days and bad days,' he smiles. The bitterness of the profit downgrade was sweetened by Northern finally receiving its Basle II waiver yesterday, which will release spare capital and pave the way for 'a huge increase in dividends and share buybacks" (The 6 months accounts incorporated a dividend increased by 33%.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those of us with a memory span that can cover a dozen years recall that a flunky like Leeson could bring down a bank like Barings for less than a billion.

Can we look forward to Applegarth surrendering his passport and some Dutch bank stumping up a quid to take on the dead duck??

ziz said...

£1 overestimates the value of Northern Wreck.

If the vulture capitalists manage to buy it along with £20-30-40 Bn of our dosh you can be certain that that is one loan that will never be repaid.

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish