Thousands of leaked documents revealed by BuzzFeed News and BBC Newsnight show how RBS’s troubled business division, Global Restructuring Group (GRG), systematically crushed thousands of businesses after the financial crash by draining them of cash and stripping their assets. The files reveal 16,000 firms were sucked into GRG in the recession — including hundreds of farms, care homes, schools and nurseries, and hotels. RBS denied that it systematically destroyed businesses for profit but admitted that “a number of our customers did not receive the level of service they should have done”.
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A successful Scottish music studio that recorded top-selling artists including Susan Boyle, Belle and Sebastian, and the Fratellis was forced to close by GRG. The owner, Stuart McCredie, told BuzzFeed News his studio was pushed into the feared unit after he told RBS he wanted to take his business to another bank. McCredie, who had spent 23 years building the business, says he had never missed a loan repayment and was given no reason for his transfer to restructuring, but was immediately hit with fines, extra fees, and additional interest running into six figures. The RBS Files reveal that companies could be pushed into the restructuring division just because of a “breakdown of customer relationship”, or if the customer came up with “any proposed exit strategy” to end its deal with the bank.