The way they were...

Financier of the Year 2001 - Peter Cummings, Managing Director of Corporate Banking was awarded 'Financier of the Year' by the Corporate Finance Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales. He is also a nominee for 'Dealmaker of the Year' awarded by Insider Group in Sept 2001.

Footnote: That was as good as it got. Lloyds now expects to suffer £7bn of impairment charges on corporate loans made by its new subsidiary HBOS that went sour, a turn that seems to be being blamed on poor Peter, an HBOS veteran who left the company in January after going from sweeping the floor to running a £109bn loan book.

History written by the losers

Andy Hedley Hornby, the boss of failed bank HBOS, is so famous that he has an entry on Wikipedia. That's the free online encyclopedia that is written by volunteers and is the starting (only?) point of reference for many an internet researcher. So, predictably, the authors of the Hornby page have been pretty busy lately keeping everything up to date.
Among the numerous changes recently deemed necessary to the former Asda exec's tale include the axing of a reference to Hornby considering a return to "greengrocering"; the addition of the words "agreed to" in a description of HBOS being taken over by Lloyds TSB; and the introduction of another line about Hornby staying on as "a consultant to the Lloyds Banking Group for a fee of £60,000 per month" as soon as the takeover is completed.
All of these changes have been made from IP addresses emanating from one company. Its name? HBOS.

Surveillance...

Sir Philip Green, Baroness Vadera and Lloyds TSB chief exec Eric Daniels talking very animatedly in a corner far removed from the main crowd at the Sunday Times business desk Christmas drinks reception at Claridges last night. What can they have been discussing?