October 2008 was a dark month for British lenders. The taxpayer bailouts necessary to avoid another Lehman-style bankruptcy cast a long shadow over the sector. The Royal Bank of Scotland was the costliest collapse and rescue in the world; its chief executive, Fred “the Shred” Goodwin, is still remembered as the unacceptable face of British banking. Only now, 14 years later, is the pall beginning to recede. For the first time since the financial crisis, the government stake in RBS — renamed NatWest Group — is now less than 50 per cent. NatWest’s return to private sector control was rightly heralded by the Treasury as an “important moment” — and an indicator of a bright future for British banking
2008年10月对英国银行业来说是黑暗的一个月。为避免再出现雷曼式破产事件而不得不动用纳税人的资金进行救助，给银行业蒙上了一层厚厚的阴霾。苏格兰皇家银行(Royal Bank of Scotland)是世界上破产和救助成本最高的银行；其首席执行官“剪刀手”弗雷德•古德温(Fred Goodwin)仍被看作是英国银行业一个不受欢迎的人物。直到14年后的今天，这层阴霾才开始消退。自金融危机以来，英国政府所持苏格兰皇家银行——后来更名为国民西敏寺银行集团(NatWest Group)——股份首次低于50%。财政部称国民西敏集团回归私营部门的控制是“重要时刻”——这是恰当的说法——也预示着英国银行业的光明前景。