Banks,bailouts and bonuses: a personal account of working in Halifax Bank of Scotland during the financial crisis

This article presents a first hand account of the financial crisis by ‘Margaret Taylor’, a union activist within HBOS. Overviewing more than twenty years’ experience in the sector, Margaret highlights three types of change under way since the 1990s that she sees as antecedents of the present crisis: the shift from traditional pay structures to individualised, performance based pay; the entry of retail giants geared to aggressive marketing and maximising market share; and technological innovation which facilitated workforce deskilling. The testimony deepens our understanding of a significant, contemporary event and consistent with the aims of oral history, which influenced the interviewer’s approach, provides a glimpse into the lives of those who generally do not, or cannot record their stories.