Oh, you look fun!

Quite - I think I'd trust him with my money rather more than I would the likes of Fred Goodwin or Bob Diamond.

On Friday the 5th of July 1991 I sent one of my employees to the bank to collect the wages.
The bank regulated by the Bank of England and audited by Price Waterhouse and Ernst & Young was closed.

I was technically bankrupt.

Since then other banks have been in a state of bankruptcy but the various governments around the world have in the majority of cases bailed them out.

This month I believe I will receive a final dividend from the liquidators bringing the total I have have been paid up to 100%.

Can anybody tell me how I can receive a 100% return from a bankrupt bank after the liquidators and all their hangers on have taken their large slices???

Sounds like a good idea in principle. Depends on the structure, has to be set up like a credit union. If not can you imagine how many fraudsters would be setting them up.

That's just about all of them then. The Government, the Bank of England, the Insurance companies, pension administrators, all the banks and those shites that sit in financial institutions in London affecting your savings just because some financial dick in the States decided to sleep with a chambermaid ...... lets face it then, we're all shafted!

You better stay well away from any Financial Advisers then. All completely useless.

Yes, absolutely. But as others have said too, if credit unions (and the original building societies which all started out on just such a small, local basis) can work, why shoudn't this, without interference from the powerful vested interests?

IMO things started to go wrong with the banking industry when the high street banks started trying to make more money by flogging insurance, pensions, risky investments, endowment mortgages, pension mortgages et al to their customers, and bombarding us with junk mail offering personal loans, credit cards with ever increasing credit limits, consolidation loans, instead of sticking to what they were good at, and responsible lending.

The guy in the programme not only makes loans to local small businesses, but also gives them business advice, and who better to do that than someone who has been there, done that and made millions, rather than some whizz-kid "management consultant" straight out of business school with a shiny new MBA who has never run a business in their life?

Yes, but they are only agents, they don't handle the capital.

Only used a financial adviser once, I had to to get a mortgage.

He sold me PPI. I knew exactly what it was (help to pay the mortgage in disadvantaged circumstances), I know I wanted it, and although I never needed it, I was glad I had it, and I wouldn't dream of claiming it back.

I suppose you never know who has lost money until the venture goes belly-up.

A lot of politicians took John Delorean seriously.

I'm from that area of the world so I'm not a sniffy Southerner as the Guardian puts it, but I can't help feeling uneasy about him.

Why not go the whole hog and get a banking licence ? Even Airtours the holiday company had to have a banking licence because they took deposits from potential holiday-makers. What's in his background to stop him ?

He says there are too many rules and regulations, but they are there for a purpose.

From the point-of-view of a community self help scheme it sounds wonderful, and God knows Burnley needs it, BUT.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012...-dave-fishwick

You don’t mention which bank it was.

It was of course the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a bank registered in Luxembourg, and with head offices in Karachi and London. One of the major shareholders was President Zayed II of the United Arab Emirates.

There is a good write-up of the debacle on wikipaedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of..._International

At the time of the failure, BCCI (the ‘B’ doesn’t stand for British as you might think, by the way) were offering very tasty interest rates. I know because I was miffed because I had to start paying to use the Bury Municipal car park when it had been free before. This was due to Bury Council getting greedy and losing their shirts with this bank.

Just pointing out it wasn’t a British, government and tax-payer backed bank.

I thought Cricketman had cornered the market in convoluted thinking.

Correct the B stood for BANK

Newcastle Building Society were at that time offering equally tasty interest rates.

The Bank of England were regulators for the British arm of the bank.

On July 5, 1991, regulators persuaded a court in Luxembourg to order BCCI liquidated on the grounds that it was hopelessly insolvent.

Therefore can you answer my original question?

I am genuinely glad you got your money back after 22 years, it compares unfavourably with Gordon Brown compensating British personal savers in the failed Icelandic banks almost immediately.

The answer to your question is simple. The Arabs are trying to set up a financial centre in the Middle East to rival London and New York. Because of the strong Arab taint to BCCI, they don't want to leave a blot on the landscape, and have been shamed after all this time into meeting their moral obligations.

This will give them a pristine, Islamic reputation where disgruntled Brits can deposit their savings, get high tax-free returns, without having to deal with those yukky, evil, scumbag, evil, would'nt give them house-room, evil, British banks.

So minibus people, you have a better alternative. Somewhere where Gordon Brown's precedent means that you can enjoy your high returns and if it fails you can be compensated by the British tax-payer. It must be kosher, they have an airline, a London club, and David Beckham has a place there.

Not like Minibus man who doesn't have his paperwork in order.

Aaaaaanyway...... I missed the new series start but will be catching up today. I like the bloke, his energy is infectious and the message he is putting out there about banks is pretty spot on. Does make me laugh though.... we wouldn't be British if we dint try and tear down people willing to make a difference.

Time will tell