Alex Dibbs
THE most powerful of bankers, and the least portentous: that was Alex Dibbs. He had joined the Westminster Bank in the lowly post of a junior clerk. He served in that great school of practical banking, the private office of Arthur Chesterfield, for 15 years chief general manager. (Philip Wilkinson, National Westminster's chief executive today, is another pupil.) Alex Dibbs went on to put together the merger which made NatWest our biggest domestic bank, and to lead and drive the group as chief executive. No one could mistake that big, burly figure of restless energy and fearlessness — which is not among the characteristic banking virtues. I once asked him; on a public occasion, when the NatWest Tower (then running far behind time and over budget) would be finished. Others would have found a fudgy form of words. Alex Dibbs, to the horror of his aides, bellowed with laughter and said: 'Well, Christopher, how old are you?' He was an inspirer of people and, as the Bank of England's lifeboatmen could testify, a good man to have on your side in bad times. In the sterling crisis of 1976, I went to Hong Kong, under the mistaken im- pression that the news would be found at the Commonwealth finance ministers' con- ference, where Denis Healey was to pre- side. The Chancellor, as it later proved, had turned back at Heathrow, to mind the shop. I had no idea what was happening or what to do. Suddenly into the Mandarin Hotel strode a familiar, bear-like form. `Have a drink,' he said. 'You know, I reckon you and I are 6,000 miles away from where we ought to be.' It was singularly reassuring.
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