Lloyds tries its luck ...
THE GREAT thing about the Monopolies and Mergers Commission is that you never know your luck. The oddest arguments can
win. The Commission was persuaded that if the Kuwait Investment Office owned 29 per cent of British Petroleum, that would be bad for competition. Ten years ago it blocked two rival bids for the Royal Bank of Scotland, saying that they would both reduce the career opportunities for Scottish bankers. That archetypal Scottish banker William Purves has had to find his opportu- nities as chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. His bid for the Midland has been waved through, Lloyds' rival approach has been sent to the Commission — and Lloyds has decided to take its chance and see what happens. So would I. Perhaps the argument can be deflected into numbers of jobs or numbers of branches in such sensitive locations as Chiddingfold. What matters to the customers (most of all, to the business customers) is something dif- ferent: the choice of banks. Of the two rival suitors for Midland, one plans to heighten competition among the Big Four, while the other would reduce them to a Big Three. It will be hard to get round that one, but instructive to watch Lloyds try.
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