#stephen hester

The collapse of the deal to sell a chunk of RBS customers and branches to Santander has a bigger effect in Manchester than in other parts of the UK. And it’s not fair on customers for it to drag on any longer.

When Royal Bank of Scotland was required to offload branches and customers as part of its state aid package, customers weren’t given a great deal of say, but they were given an extraordinary long notice period. The vague promise of sometime in 2013 gave a glimpse of the complexity of the problem for Santander in integrating the new teams and the whole new banking system into their own processes.

How that the deal has died, customers will be reeling. Yet there’s a decent business to be had here.

RBS seems to be on the road to stability. When I questioned Stephen Hester on this earlier this year he seemed quite upbeat and optimistic.

Since then he’s reeled from Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland having a computer crash, having to make provisions for the selling of hedging products and payment protection insurances as well as the potential liabilities from LIBOR fixing.

But the tide is turning.

The bank leaving the government's Asset Protection Scheme this week is a vindication of that optimism and a step towards privatisation.

And in other better news this week RBS sold off its stake in Direct Line Insurance, based in Manchester, for a decent £787m , valuing it at £2.82bn. That's a clear signal from the market that there are decent bits of RBS which good businesses untainted by toxic investments.

This blowout from the collapse will also be keenly felt at Santander which hasn’t quite fought off the perception that it’s a glorified building society. It has also caused massive disruption to the management structures across the two organisations as they edged towards a merger.

So what next?

I’ve nothing personal against Sir Richard Branson, honestly, but I can’t see him tabling the best offer. Virgin Money is not likely to be able to leverage its brand in the way it has in the consumer field.

The best scenario would be a revival of the Williams and Glyn's brand, which can be traced back to its formation as the Manchester and Salford Bank in 1836. The new revived bank should be headquartered as a business bank in Manchester and with closer connections to the businesses of the North.

So, this comment from the BBC just popped up, and after reflecting on it for... oh, about three seconds, it has worked me up into a bit of a rage. Note to my readers: a rant is coming.

So, when it was announced that RBS boss Stephen Hester was going to get close to a one-million-pound bonus this year, there was uproar. George Osborne was quick to 'defend' the bonus, and by defending, we mean him ensuring that people knew he wasn't responsible for anything without directly condoning/condemning the bonus. He did not speak out against it, despite the fact that 83% of RBS is owned by the British Government, or the 'taxpayer.'

Here's a few facts from 2010. George Osborne has announced:

£7bn in welfare budget cuts.

4% cut to police budgets.

A possible cut of half-a-million public sector jobs.

And more.

Then he has the audacity to turn around and effectively say "It's fine, give the million-quid to Stephen Hester, it's not like he already earns 1.2 million a year anyway."

What planet is this man on? He precariously slashes, splatters and defaces his way through the painting that is the UK economy and people's lives, and then doesn't speak out against this kind of a farce?

Fast forward to now, when it has been announced that RBS boss Stephen Hester realised that taking the bonus would not be the 'right' thing to do, and George Osborne comes in with this comment of all things. He's happy to cut-cut-cut, but when it comes to some chap getting nearly double his millionaire salary, he turns unbiased.