The Biggest Corporate Turnaround in History

Plus: Ambac, Fortress Investment Group, The Queen

Britain got a new prime minister this week (and also a new head of state, but more on that below). With an energy crisis to confront, feeding into a cost of living crisis, she has a lot on her plate. At least the banks are doing OK. In fact, with interest rates rising, some of them are doing quite well. Luckily for Ms Truss, the UK government owns just under half of one of the banks most exposed to rising rates, NatWest Group. Formerly known as RBS, it caused one of her predecessors no end of troubles, but the bank may now be seeing the fruits of a protracted turnaround. With its latest results, the bank ramped its earnings guidance. Here’s what’s going on…

The Largest Bank in the World

There are many reasons a bank can fail: low capital, risky funding, bad lending. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) ticked them all. For a long time, though, management stood in denial. On the morning of Tuesday, 7 October 2008, the bank’s CEO, Fred Goodwin, took to the stage at the ballroom of London’s Landma…