Absent friend
THERE is someone missing from the committee now formed to represent the creditors of British & Commonwealth Merchant Bank. The big names are there. headed by the Midland, but no representa- tive of the unluckiest creditors of all. Clients of stockbroking firms in the B & C group, they found out, too late, that their money had been deposited in a bank whose doors have now been closed. One such client had sold his shares to buy a house. He is now told (by the Bank of England) that he can put in a claim under the Deposit Protection Schemes, up to a max- imum of £.15,000 — which might just about buy a conservatory. The administrator now in charge of the self-styled merchant bank says that he expects to pay all its debts in full, but does not say when. His interest and those of the involuntary depositors are not the same. He is in no special hurry he must get the best price for the bank, which he is trying to sell. They just want their money back, now, or at least at some firm date. They need their own man on the committee, and the Stock Exchange, whose customers they were, might at least offer to find them a candidate. They have been ill-served. The Financial Services Act has left the City packed to the gunwales with regulators and guardians, all sup- posedly toiling away on behalf of the private investor, but not one of them has been prepared to help or guide these investors.
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