Turning Point

The Irish Netherlands Bank was small compared to the big five. It could not have been compared to the HSBC where the CEO barely knew what was happening from day to day, not to mind each week. The heads of extremely large enterprises could be likened to the captains of giant oil tankers, if they listened to those who said left, right, stop, faster, slower, it would have served no purpose because there would be no reaction before the vessel covered another two or three miles. They were figure heads, symbols, their daily task was to preside as totems, from time to time giving press conferences, TV interviews, posing for magazine covers and doing what lesser managers told them to do. It was not they who made decisions.

  In the case of Fitzwilliams it was a very different story, even if his bank had expanded very quickly, he still had his hands very much on the helm and had no intention of ending up on the rocks.

  ‘Look at this Fitz,’ said Kennedy. ‘I like it. It’s what Josiah Stamp said in 1927, he was one of the richest men in England and had been head of the Bank of England.’

  ‘Tell me Pat,’ said Fitzwilliams half listening.

  ‘I’ll read: ‘Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money.’

  ‘I like the bit about iniquity and sin,’ said Kennedy after a moment’s silence.

  ‘Creating money is better!’ retorted Fitzwilliams.

  ‘Great, so let’s be creative,’ Kennedy said laughing. ‘Whilst the others are worrying about recession and the rest, it’s a great moment to make money. Borrow short and lend long.’

  ‘I think we should be a little prudent Pat, there’s a lot of talk about depression and deflation.’

  ‘Personally I don’t think there’s a good chance of a depression.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Fitzwilliams replied with a shrug. ‘Perhaps it’s not as bad as all that. During the Great Depression, the GDP fell by ten percent then and we’re a long way from that now.’

  ‘In the USA it was thirty.’

  ‘The UK went through a long period of stagnation in the twenties when the US was booming. After the First World War, GDP actually fell twenty five percent here. So for us the Great Depression started in 1918.’

  ‘And didn’t end until 1937.’

  ‘Right. So the situation today after our ten year boom is more comparable to that of the US in the thirties.’

  ‘Is that good or bad?’ asked Kennedy.

  Fitzwilliams looked at him blankly.

  A Banana Republic