Source: Daily Mail, LondonDec.mini storage 14--Nice to see that big-hearted Jamie Dimon, fighting for his reputation and that of JPMorgan Chase, is handing over $1bn to the victims of the Madoff fraud.When Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme was exposed five years ago it was assumed that victims, including Nobel peace prize winner Elie Wiesel, would never see a penny back.But aggressive recovery operations by Irving Picard, the trustee acting for the Madoff victims and by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, mean that $13bn ? or 74pc of the money that vanished ? has so far been restored.Such recoveries can never make up for the anguish, the stress and fatal consequences for some of the victims. It is nevertheless encouraging.Truth is that with patience and perseverance, even in the worst cases of fraud, resourceful trustees and administrators can make substantial recoveries.When BCCI went down in the early 1990s it was assumed that depositors around the world, including local authorities and a large number of Asian business people in the UK, would never see their cash back.Assiduous work by one of the administrators Fred Goodwin (who went on to lead RBS) and his successors meant that more than 90pc of the funds were returned to investors.Bad management rather than fraud that brought down Lehman Brothers and triggered the greatest financial panic for more than a century.Five years on the Lehman creditors have been paid in full. AIG, the American credit insurer that was nationalised, has been returned to the public markets, and the mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been repaired.Likelihood is that the Government's bad bank, the worst of the loan books of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, will eventually pay the taxpayer back in full.This is what happened when the Bank of England rescued Slater Walker in the 1970s.Even surviving Equitable Life policyholders have seen the capital value ? if not the returns on their holdings largely restored.Runoff and administration can be painful and lengthy. But the outcomes are often far better than the pessimists might expect.___Ireland may be the 'poster child' for euroland austerity, as it emerges from the clutches of the troika of the IMF, European Central Bank and the European Commission.But it leaves behind some nasty scars in London.The travails of Ulster Bank, which have literally soaked up billions of UK taxpayers money at its parent Royal Bank of Scotland, are well documented.Dubliself storage has now claimed another head at Britain's flagship general insurer RSA.The costs of the scandal at its Irish offshoot have soared from the pounds sterling 70m announced in early November.Reserves are being strengthened by an additional pounds sterling 130m to cover the shortfall.All this before PwC has completed its review of what went wrong in Ireland.Given the scale of the Irish problem chief executive Simon Lee had little choice but to go and will be temporarily replaced by chairman Martin Scicluna.By its very nature general insurance is an uncertain activity and no one can be cross with the firm over the pounds sterling 25m estimated costs for the early December storms in the UK and Scandinavia. It could have been much worse.The real worry about RSA is that if controls were so weak in Ireland what does it say the rest of the group with interests ranging from Canada to Latin America?RSA may be a FTSE 100 company with a grand name but in global general insurance it is a minnow.The share price is just over 7pc down in latest trading, the dividend under threat and takeover speculation for all or part of the enterprise already has begun.Preferably it can seek to rebuild its reputation and reserves by strengthening management controls, easing down the dividend and raising new capital.Its spread of businesses, that now includes some emerging markets looks attractive, and RSA is a key pillar of the UK's financial services industry.It is to be hoped that its biggest investors that include BlackRock and Schroder ? long-term, value investors ? show faith and some patience.It is only too easy to abandon ship and allow Berkshire Hathaway, or one of the European based titans, to swoop up the entrails.___The universal postal service, the nation was assured at the privatisation of Royal Mail, is enshrined in law.It also was assured that the taxpayer was getting the best price in the circumstances of an impending strike.We know how that turned out: the share price doubled and the strike was averted.Amid declining postal volumes Moya Greene's native Canada has become the first G7 country to ditch residential deliveries.It is adopting a 'community mailbox' system in neighbourhoods across the land where residents will pick up their deliveries.Could this be the new universal service?Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Daily Mail (London, ) Visit the Daily Mail (London, ) at .dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉
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