Thread by @Gabriel_Pogrund

Live from the Treasury select committee, where Lex Greensill is giving evidence.

Starts by saying he takes responsibility...but that it is "deeply regrettable" that his insurers pulled the plug on the business

Suggests collapse could've been avoided
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parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/99…

Greensill takes aim at Lord Myners, who has been one of the leading critics of the company

Says Myners "seemed amenable" to the idea of becoming an adviser to his company during a meeting they had - and that he had a follow up encounter with the chairman of Greensill Capital
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Greensill says that Lord Myners prepared a statement which the company was preparing to publish - but never did.

"My question in parliament was linked to open ended funds and illiquidity. I've asked many other question of the same issue in my time in parliament...

I took it upon myself to meet with Lex Greensill to discuss his business. I found him very open and following the meeting am comfortable with the business and its operation. I heard and say nothing that would warrant the use of the word 'fraudulent' or anything similar."

Greensill reveals that Myners had health problems - following which he declined to take on a role.

Asked for clarity on who prepared Myners' statement, he Greensill says it was sent from Edelman. /5

Greensill is asked what went wrong at his company.

He says the "ultimate" reason for Greensill's failure was "one reason. . . a material portion of our funding, Mr Chairman, is provided by investors who require insurance together with that asset that they purchase... "

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Their insurance provider decided "not to renew their insurance...it was that withdrawal of insurance capacity which resulted in our failure."

Greensill says reason for withdrawal was: i) Covid, ii) concentrations with "larger customers" (Liberty)" and German regulators 7/

He says he "regrets" situation with those larger customers - and will address this in due course.

So far, though, he is pinning failure on his business squarely on the withdrawal of insurance - not the underlying business model as exposed by @jcollingridgeST @BondHack et al 8/

At what point from early 2019 did Greensill start to think his biz wasn't as stable as he wanted it to be?

"The first event that gave me concern ... the state of the capital markets during March, April and May 2020

i.e. exactly when Greensill and Cameron stepped up lobbying
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Greensill says in December 2020, he realised the company faced an existential crisis - blaming reduction plans proposed by German regulators.

"The capital raise which was otherwise supported by two of the largest banks in the world ... we obviously had to pause that."

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Greensill admits that he lobbied to change the CCFF policy because it would have helped his own business with its liquidity issues - not just small businesses downstream

"We didn't know what was going to happen next , we felt that having a liquidity insurance policy ..." 11/

" which the CCFF provided, was a prudent thing for us as a business to do" 12/

Did Greensill and David Cameron discuss how changing the CCFF would have benefited his business?

Greensill says that his company, "at no time, sought funding for itself."

But the model needed liquidity, did it not? 13/

"Our clients needed that continued liquidity, as will always be the case... as these are real businesses in the real econonmy".

So half-accepts he was lobbying out of self-interest. 14/

Very important point here from @BondHack. Greensill's insurance contract was terminated *half a year* before it expired in March - which is when he is indicating he knew the business was in real trouble.

https://twitter.com/BondHack/status/1392137097994178569?s=20

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Greensill now blaming the nature of the insurance business for the company's collapse - esp "counter-cyclical" need for insurers to provide more capital during downturns in the market.

"It strikes me that one of the key regulatory shortcomings, shown by ..." 16/

the failure of my firm...one of the key learnings is the credit insurance regulation structure works in a counter cylical nature...when the probability defaults of business increase, in order for the insolvency requirements of the insurer to be met, they must provide more" 17/

capital.. .and this is what happened during Covid." 18/

Right. Greensill now claims he can't speak about Gupta - saying his administrators have gagged him and alsoc ites the now ongoing investigation by FCA.

"I am not able to comment about specific clients. I've received a directive from the administrator of Greensill Capital..." 19/

Greensill does though accept his business was too dependent on "certain clients" and that he is responsible for that. 20/

In response to the allegation that what he was offering was not really supply chain finance, Greensill now says investors and insurers always had "full and complete information" on his assets - and that he always correctly described what he was selling 21/

He says he took insurance out on all of his loans and that the real question was the classification of assets. Brushes aside the underlying issue of future receivables based on clients who had not done business with Liberty/GFG Alliance 22/

.@rushanaraali says: "The reality is you got what you wanted in the end, didn't you, Mr Greensill?"

That is, Greensill loaned £400m in govt-backed money to GFG-linked companies.

Greensill says he never spoke to government officials about CLBILS ... 23/

"until after the BBB determined we were eligible"
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Extraordinarily, Grensill says he can't confirm he loaned £400m to Gupta-linked businesses under CLBILS

@rushanaraali says he owes explanation to the British people

He says he's been told by Grant Thornton and his "legal advisers" that he can't comment on specific customers 25/

and continues to hide behind the shield of the FCA's investigation announced today.

"Ms Ali, Greensill Capital was selected by the BBB as being eligible to operate the scheme. The credited that we extended to our customers complied with our ordinary rules and procedures." 26/

He says each loan he provided was reviewed by a "top-tier London law firm" - which also liaised with the BBB itself to ensure all loans complied with the rules.

Despite BBB investigation, he says "it's my opinion" that all of his loans complied with the rules 27/

💥 Greensill says he loaned to customers other than GFG-linked companies - "We provided facilities to other customers under BBB facilities" 28/

So Greensill loaned to other customers under the government-backed CLBILS scheme - but he cannot say who, again citing his legal obligations 29/

Greensill says he was first introduced to Sanjeev Gupta by an insurance executive at Euler Hermes in 2015 29/

Greensill says supply chain finance "absolutely is the future" - but acknowledges he made mistakes along the way.

@rushanaraali suggest his firm was a Ponzi scheme, and that it "smacks" of fraud and what Bernie Madoff offered.

Greensill says firms across the world use SCF 30/

@Siobhain_Mc: "Mr Greensill,, are you a fraudster?"

Greensill: No, I'm not.

McDonagh goes on to describe the Greensill/Gupta future receivables model - based on loans to companies who'd allegedly never done business with GFG 31/

"I do recognise that any financial asset comes with risk.... we spent tens of millions of pounds every year purchasing insurance to protect against an event where there was a loss that arose, and we took significant security packages to support that position"

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He says he continues to believe his business helped the wider economy and says pubs raise money in a similar way re future receivables. 33/