Laura Jane gets another distress call

More peculiar goings on at West Register – the secretive vehicle created by Royal Bank of Scotland in which it dumps its distressed assets. You'll recall that there seems to be a policy of constantly switching directors at West Register (Investments) and West Register (Property Investments). Now I note that one Laura Jane Barlow (already a director at the property group) has joined the board of the investment company. Oddly, virtually all the directors seem to be based in south-east England, despite West Register being located in Royal Bank's buildings in Edinburgh, while construction sources reckon the bank and its off-shoots are impossible to reach to do any deals. Developing…

The Royal Bach

Has anybody noticed the uncanny resemblance between Royal Bank of Scotland boss, Stephen Hester, and the composer, Johann Sebastian Bach? Are they, perchance, related?

Separated at birth...

Has anybody noticed the remarkable similarity between former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin and camp funny man, Paul O'Grady? Are they, perchance, related?

Sir Fred O'Grady

Feast of Stephen to end in famine?

Much consternation about the potential £9.6m pay deal of Royal Bank of Scotland boss, Stephen Hester. Still, well placed RBS sources are continuing to speculate that the value of the bank might yet go to zero. So it might not matter.

Claims and counter claims

Back in February, when the kerfuffle over Sir Fred Goodwin's pension was at its most hysterical, politicians were proposing a probe into the former RBS boss's expense claims to see if it might unearth evidence that would persuade him to hand some of his pot back.
What happened to that project, I wonder?

Rozzers 1 Soap dodgers 0

I'm not a natural supporter of the rozzers, but a word of praise for the police's magnificent performance during the G20 demonstrations in the Square Mile today.
They completely outwitted those dreadful soap-dodgers by arranging (I suspect) for that (empty) Royal Bank of Scotland building to leave its windows exposed.
This clever little tactic gave the rabble a target window to break on their pre-arranged route, with the police only intervening when some grubby little fellow attempted to enter the premises.
So now they can all slope off back to their student unions claiming to revolutionaries. Laughable, really.

Update: obviously, this post has the potential to become something of an embarrassment. But, as politicians like to say, let's await the outcome of any inquiry.

Peston strikes again, with civil tale

So who was the source of Robert Peston's "striking story" on Sir Fred Goodwin's £650k-a-year RBS pension on last night's BBC News at Ten?
Surely not a favoured Peston civil servant - a profession well known for selflessly sparing the taxpayer of any unnecessary pain in this area.
Nor can the tale be described as new - despite Pesto's self promotion - which makes one wonder what the great disseminator's motives are.

A question...

As more and more directors reveal they have pledged shares to secure loans, I wonder how many City spinners will slip out announcements on behalf of their bosses at around 4pm today - just as the deadline approaches (for the statements and the weekend newspapers)?

Update (18.08): those late filers include Sir Martin Sorrell at WPP (15.51), Arthur Ryan at Royal Bank of Scotland (16.30) and Carnival's Micky Arison (17.48). Other stragglers include DCC, Pochin's, McInerey Holdings, N Brown, HR Owen, United Drug and Intec Telecom Systems - to name but a few.

SlackBelly's (second) tip of the year

As the national newspapers begin their traditional share-tipping competition to see which of them can relieve their readers of the most money, I present my second offering of 2009: sell your shares in Standard Life.
Predictably this tip has no scientific grounding and, indeed, is not really my own. Instead, it is based on word from the Palace, following the knighthood bestowed on "Handy" Sandy Crombie, the Standard Life boss whose biddable behaviour during the credit crisis is seen by some to have clinched him his gong.
Her Maj, you see, has a distinctly patchy record as a stock picker. As soon as Sir Stuart Rose was invited to bow before her, his Marks & Spencer recovery fell to its knees. Shares in WPP have never quite been the same since boss Sir Martin Sorrell was honoured at the peak of the market in 2000; while the less we dwell on Sir Fred Goodwin and Royal Bank of Scotland the better.
So will "Handy" Sandy also suffer from Brenda's curse?