In June of this year, this author wrote of the sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) to the Macquarie Group for £2.3 billion, something which had Conservative politicians rejoicing at the £160 million profit the sale generated for the public purse. However, the piece and the associated commentary was adamant that the sale represented the lengths to which the Conservative Government’s regressive commitment to short-termism could go, with the assertion being that Macquarie could not be relied upon to continue the positive work of the GIB or not bleed the organisation dry before it moved on. Although there are many instances of the Macquarie group portraying this negative aspect to capitalism, in this post we will focus on the latest example and revisit the decision of Theresa May’s government upon that basis. Before we revisit the sale of the GIB, assessing the latest example of the culture at the Macquarie Group will reveal for us the care and attention that the Conservative ...

Today’s post was intended to move away from the world of politics after a number of posts in Financial Regulation Matters focused upon the actions of the political leaders in the U.K. However, politics and financial regulation, and business matters moreover, are intrinsically intertwined. Therefore, today’s post will remain in this juncture between the relevant fields and look at the recent news that the British Government is about to sell the Green Investment Bank (GIB) to a consortium led by the Australian-based Macquarie Group . So, in this post, we will take a look at the GIB in more detail and see whether the claims from the government that the deal represents good value for the taxpayer really hold true under scrutiny. The Green Investment Bank, which proudly proclaims on its website to be ‘ first bank of its type in the world ’, was created in 2012 after consultations stemming from the 2010 General Election. In 2012 the bank received the authorisation from the European C...