The former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland rose to the ranks of the global banking elite in the early years of the century on the back of a reckless acquisitions spree, stretching from the initially profitable takeover of NatWest to the cavalier and costly acquisition of ABN Amro.
Known in his early years as as “Fred the Shred,” Sir Fredrick Goodwin’s rather endearing appellative mutated to “Shredded Fred” during his last few vainglorious months. His reign as Scotland’s most prominent financier came to be symbolised by a comically expensive new RBS campus on the outskirts of Edinburgh, the construction of which Sir Fred supervised personally from a Portacabin installed on site for his own exclusive use.
Such was City’s loathing at the end that stock market traders gleefully bid his bank’s stock higher on news of a rescue refinancing, delighting in the knowledge that the RBS chief executive was about to come to a sticky end.
Educated at Paisley Grammar and Glasgow University, where he read law, Sir Fred switched immediately to accountancy – joining Touche Ross and then rising to prominence in the liquidation of BCCI, the baksheesh bank. Stints at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank followed, before the still youthful financier fell in with Sir George Mathewson – infamous for the jib that his multi-million pound bonus was not big enough to brag about in a Soho wine bar.
Sir Fred was careful with his own money, although it was rumoured that while at RBS he was mugged at one of his own cash machines after his chauffeur stopped so that he could get some cash. The assailant apparently snatched his bank card while his chauffeur waited nearby.
Related links
Sir Frederick (Fred) Anderson Goodwin DUniv, FCIBS, FCIB, LLD – Wikipedia
Royal Bank of Scotland considers rights issue – FT
How Fred the Shred became a Brown adviser – The Guardian