Gina Davidson: Bank staff must accept they've lost their share

Published on Thursday 5 February 2009 09:08

CAN there possibly be a single person in the so-called developed world who is unaware that stocks and shares can go down as well as up? Even if, right now, the latter is as likely as Carol Thatcher being hired as the public face of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Perhaps the question should be – was anyone ever unaware that gambling on the stock market could result in losses? I'm not talking about brokers and investment companies, not even banks, but those who, like thousands of HBOS and RBS employees, ploughed their annual bonuses into workplace share schemes, and who are now crying foul because they claim they've been sold a pup.

Surely anyone who has enough cash to buy shares knows that they're taking a risk and that they could lose out – even when it seems their employers are riding high on the FTSE. Or maybe the promise of untold riches really can blind people to the harsh realities of the stock exchange.

While I feel incredibly sorry for all those normal (non-executive level) bank staff, who look likely to lose their jobs as a result of their overmasters over-reaching ambition, and downright avarice, I find it hard to feel the same about those who've lost money they never really had because their employers' share price has gone through the floor.

You might imagine that those who work with money would know that cold, hard cash is always going to be more reliable than bits of paper which claim your shares are worth thousands. You might imagine that they would be sensible enough not to base their retirement plans on the never-never.

But it seems that has not been the case. Yet, rather than admitting their own culpability now that the shares are worth next to nothing, there is instead an investigation by union leaders into whether or not staff at HBOS were "pressured" into buying the bank's shares with their annual bonuses. There was no such investigation launched at the time when the bank was doing well – only now that the share value has fallen by 90 per cent.

How can anyone allege they were forced to buy shares? Unless they were told in no uncertain terms that they would otherwise lose their job, then this claim about mis-selling holds as much water as a shopping trolley.

It is much more likely that staff decided that buying shares could gain them more cash – especially as after three years they would also receive 50 per cent more free shares. Pound signs were flashing before their eyes. So much so, it seems, they didn't read the small print.

Like one retired Edinburgh couple, former HBOS employees, who this week claimed that as a result of the share collapse their "nest egg" has fallen in value from 250,000 to 25,000. The fact though is that they never actually had 250,000 – and if they did, why didn't they cash it in? As a result, the female half of this couple has had to return to work, at the age of 54. If only the majority of us could look forward to retiring before then.

Admittedly, no-one it seems, not even the economic experts, predicted such a catastrophic collapse in share values, but the warning was always there, no matter how small it may have been printed. Ultimately it's an individual's responsibility to read it.

Lessons in tragedy

JADE GOODY'S life story has moved through the ridiculous to the sublime to tragedy so quickly that not even an Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter could have conceived of it.

Born to a drug-addicted criminal father and a mother who later lost an arm (and became a lesbian), Jade found fame on Big Brother – mostly due to her apparent ignorance.

Thrust into the public eye, she has since made a fortune with her own television shows, perfume ranges and magazine columns. Her private life has filled countless gossip columns and newspaper inches, even more so when she got caught up in the middle of a race row while on Celebrity Big Brother.

Ironically, it was while on the Indian version of the show that she was first told she had cervical cancer and needed immediate treatment. Now the cancer has spread to her liver, bowel and groin and her 40 per cent chance of survival has been withdrawn.

No matter what you might think of her or how she found fame and fortune, surely no-one can be left emotionally untouched by the fact that Jade is a 27-year-old mum-of-two who is fighting to survive.

Two weeks ago I spoke to 28-year-old Katrina Guickan, who has fought and so far won her battle against cervical cancer, though she has lost her ability to carry a child in the process.

Both these women have tragic stories, although Katrina knows she is lucky to be alive. What they also both show is just how vital it is for women to ensure they get their three-yearly cervical smear. A few minutes of discomfort is surely worth it.