PWC have been found guilty of massive negligence by the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board. They persistently failed to protect clients of J P Morgan from loss as required by FSA regulation and law over a period of seven years, and signed reports that were blatantly wrong in the process. £5 billion of potential loss was at stake.
They have been 'severely reprimanded'.
And the penalty? Just £1.4 million.
Let's put that in context. There are 815 members of PWC in the UK according to their accounts. So that's £1,717 each. Their average earnings were £763,000. So that's a fine of 0.2% of earnings each. Relate that to UK average earnings of £25,000 to get a sense of perspective on that and the fine for being a partner in a firm so massively negligent would be £56 each. That's just a bit more, pro rata, than a parking fine then.
If you wanted evidence that there was one rule for the rich and another for the rest then this is it.
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i like the sensationalist £56 per partner you have calculated – very good.
rather ignores the fact that the firm will have insurance to cover this though…………….so the actual cost per partner (ignoring the insurance premium which is no doubt huge) is zero.
Insurance rarely covers the fines in my experience
Only covers the client payout
And I also think PWC self insure
As you say, Richard, the FSA would require insurance to be in place, or sufficient funds set aside and earmarked for such events.
I wonder how much more than £56 a benefits claimant would be fined if he/she had negligently or knowingly received excess working tax credit and local housing allowance?
Where’s the jail-time? Where are the handcuffs? How many of these demonstrable incompetents have had their licence to practice withdrawn?
What do the government think people’s reaction to this will be? Can they not see this brings us ever closer to riots, civil disorder or complete civil breakdown? I suspect they can. I think they feel they’ve now got nothing to lose by going for broke. As more and more people are taking an interest in our financial system and are beginning to understand it for the centuries old, outright fraud it clearly is, they want none of it. It’s the end of days for our crooked financiers and they’ve got nothing to lose by becoming overtly antisocial as opposed to adopting the covert stance that’s served them well over the centuries. Expect more utterly brazen responses as the two-class system that really rules in this country slowly moves into the light.