Royal Bank of Scotland Parliament to debate RBS 'hang themselves' comment Bank’s ‘disgraceful’ internal memo under fire from Labour and Conservatives Labour MP Clive Lewis is to call for a public inquiry on RBS’s behaviour towards small firms. Photograph: BBC ParliamentAn internal memo in which Royal Bank of Scotland staff were told to let small businesses “hang themselves” has been labelled disgraceful by MPs on the influential Treasury committee, ahead of a parliamentary debate. Ahead of the debate, the Treasury committee published a memo called “Just Hit Budget!” sent to GRG staff in 2009 and released by the bank to MPs. At Thursday’s debate, Lewis will urge an independent inquiry into how banks treat small business customers and call for a tribunal system to deal with financial disputes involving them. What RBS staff were told“If they sign, they can’t complain.”“Missed opportunities will mean missed bonuses.”“Basket cases: time consuming but remunerative.”“Rope: sometimes you need to let customers hang themselves.”• Follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk, or sign up to the daily Business Today email here.

Source: The Guardian January 17, 2018 18:51 UTC