18 March 2009
Earlier this week it was reported that two local authority
pension funds have launched a lawsuit against the Royal Bank of
Scotland (RBS).
The North Yorkshire and Merseyside pension funds have started
the legal action over losses incurred when the bank was bailed-out
by the Government. The schemes named RBS and its entire board of
directors as defendants in the case alleging that they were
"falsely reassured" about the state of the bank when it was
"effectively insolvent". Cherie Blair has been appointed to
represent the schemes.
The case has been filed in the United States. Cherie Blair,
going by her professional name of Cherie Booth QC said that the aim
of the action was to mitigate the "massive losses inflicted on
local authority pension schemes and other UK institutions who were
the largest investors in RBS. It's also about the potential to
protect investors in the future by significantly raising the
standards for good governance in major UK companies."
Now further councils have expressed
an interest in joining the class action lawsuit. The West Yorkshire
and Greater Manchester schemes also had significant holdings in
RBS.
