Is the solution to the crisis of confidence in banking more bankers? Co-op chief executive Peter Marks thinks not, which is why he finds snipes that his directors aren’t up to scratch so annoying.
The Co-op board includes a vicar, a nurse and a plasterer — folk not sharp enough to oversee the running of a chunk of Lloyds TSB, according to some.
Marks thinks this a bit rich.
He might say, indeed he pretty much does say, that so long as the Co-op doesn’t conspire to fix interest rates, launder cocaine money or embark on mass-scale mis-selling, it will automatically be better than the rest of the High Street banks.
Vicars don’t expect to be paid like bankers, so that’s good too.
If done well, banking is a dull affair, a bit like central heating. You try to use it as little as possible, but it never fails when you need it.
It used to be called 3-6-3 banking (pay interest at 3%, charge interest at 6%, hit the golf course at 3pm).
Marks prefers drumming to golf, but that seems to be roughly the model he has in mind.
By getting Paul Pester to stay and run the business, he has addressed at least some of the regulatory concerns.
And he’s got what seems to be a very good price.
If he can just make account-switching easier, customers sick of awful service from the big banks might flood his way. There’s every reason to hope he succeeds.
