Financial Times: Tougher teeth needed
“Why should Royal Dutch/Shell have been hit for £17m for market abuse while the largest fine for mis-selling was a mere £1.9m handed out to Lloyds TSB for the precipice bonds affair?”
Wednesday 31 August 2005
By Martin Dickson
Published: August 31 2005
The Financial Services Authority barks a lot about mis-selling of products but does it have enough bite?
Which? the consumer campaigning association, thinks not.
In a paper published yesterday, it calls on the FSA to impose fines so large on companies guilty of mis-selling that their profit is hit and big investors start making waves.
Fines by the FSA’s regulatory decisions committee are something of an evolving black art.
Why should Royal Dutch/Shell have been hit for £17m for market abuse while the largest fine for mis-selling was a mere £1.9m handed out to Lloyds TSB for the precipice bonds affair? True, Lloyds also made £98m in compensation payments but so it should. The arguments against larger corporate fines for really serious offences are that they hurt shareholders rather than their managerial agents and that they may undermine the UK’s culture of co-operation between the regulator and regulated.
But neither argument is that strong. Larger fines might sufficiently stir up investors that they replace their agents and that knowledge should act as a deterrent to bad behaviour.
Big fines alone should not undermine the City’s culture.
That would more likely be the result of a far more confrontational approach by the regulator across the board.
Certainly, the fines the FSA has levied so far for mis-selling look on the light side but, having now established some form in this area, it cannot easily adjust the tariff upwards without accusations of unfairness.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
