Banks in turmoil
`THE MAN to note in this week's reshuffle at National Westminster Bank is Derek Wanless. My man on the Lothbury gallops says that he is a future winner of the Chief Executive Stakes, and I would put my over- draft on it, if I thought the bank could afford it.' That was City and Suburban's tip eighteen months ago, and in this week's reshuffle Mr Wanless came striding home, overtaking more experienced horses. It will be something different to have NatWest run by a scholar of King's College, Cam- bridge (though I note that his chairman, Lord Alexander of Weedon, is a Kingsman too). He has his chance because his prede- cessor, Tom Frost, has been nobbled — the latest of NatWest's commercial bankers to
pay for the move into investment banking which, so far, has been to NatWest what Crocker was to Midland. Two months ago Mr Wanless was put in charge of invest- ment banking, and now he must find some- one else in NatWest to take it on — the fourth volunteer for this responsibility in just over a year. NatWest's board needs to make up its mind about this business before it uses and loses more good men. Mr Frost has been left to field the latest enquiry into NatWest's five-year-old dealings with Blue Arrow. That sacrifice frees the board and its picked man to deal with matters more important — the future of a major financial institution which has lost its sense of direc- tion and its knack for making money. British banks, as Brian Pearse at Midland has said, face momentous changes. Lloyds was ready to absorb Midland. Hongkong & Shanghai has outflanked Lloyds, but has yet to outbid it for Midland, because it has not yet named its price. Lloyds' pocket may well be deeper. Or Lloyds, if it wants to go abroad, could think about its old flame Standard Chartered. If it wants to stay at home and does not want to get into an auc- tion for Midland, then TSB (another bank with a Kingsman for chairman) must be a pushover — and even NatWest a possible. If Mr Wanless and his chairman muff their chance, they will not get another.
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