Duly Noted: Outrage Finds Outlets

Vandals Hit Home of Ex-Chief of Bank
By JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: March 25, 2009

LONDON — The house of Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of ailing Royal Bank of Scotland, was vandalized early Wednesday and windows of his car were smashed.

Mr. Goodwin attracted criticism for keeping his £703,000, or $1 million, pension despite a string of ill-timed acquisitions under his reign that brought the bank under government control and calls from Prime Minister Gordon Brown to surrender the payment.

At least three windows on the ground floor level of his house in an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, were smashed and a black Mercedes S600 parked in the driveway was vandalized. It is unclear whether Mr. Goodwin was in the house at the time.

“We can confirm we attended at an address in Oswald Road at 4.35 a.m. on March 25 and inquiries are ongoing,” a spokeswoman for the Lothian and Borders Police said in a statement. No one has been arrested or charged and the policeare seeking for anyone with information about the incident to step forward, she said.

Royal Bank of Scotland paid £290 a month for security arrangements at Mr. Goodwin’s house, the bank said earlier, adding that such arrangements are normal practice for any departing chief executive. Linda Harper, a spokeswoman for the bank, declined to comment on the incident and said it is a matter for the police.

Mr. Goodwin left Royal Bank of Scotland after the government pumped in £20 billion following the acquisition of Dutch lender ABN Amro at the peak of the market. Once hailed as a skilled deal maker who turned a small bank into a global financial services operation, Mr. Goodwin became the target of public scorn and a symbol of the decline of Britain’s banks because of the bank’s losses.

Death threats and outrage aimed at recipients of $165 million in bonuses at the insurance giant American International Insurance was cited as one reason officials eventually decided not to release the names of the employees who received the money.

Anybody know where Alan Greenspan or Phil Gramm lives?