McGrigor writes to demoted Rice on Bank of Scotland’s Islay debacle
published this on 11:45 am, Tuesday, 1st December, 2009Business| Community News| Environment| Islay | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
Jamie McGrigor, who has been constantly active on the matter of the Bank of Scotland’s removal of its Business Manager from the Isle of Islay, has written to Susan Rice, Managing Director of the Bank.
Ms Rice’s own portfolio as Managing Director of the Bank of Scotland component of HBOS has recently been significantly reduced in the run up to its anticipated sell-off in the wake of Lloyd’s disastrous acquisition of HBOS around a year ago.
Ms Rice was, following this takeover, appointed to her – now reduced – post as Managing Director of the Scottish element of Lloyd’s Banking Group in December 2008.
Tributes paid her an interview on 20th December for The Scotsman, following her promotion, are heavily ironic in the light of the Bank’s action in Islay that she is now presiding over.
The opening paragraph described Rice as: ‘an unflagging bastion of social responsibility. Her dedication to bringing banking to the poor and disenfranchised means that if banking ever needed a kindly face, hers would be ideal’.
Right Susan. Now let’s see the colour of your – sorry, our money on your commitment to social responsibility.
Once she got her feet under the table, by March 2009 Rice’s dedication to the poor and disenfranchised saw her attract unwelcome media attention for the larding of her own position. On 15th March The Times, hardly a rabble rouser, published a piece entitled: ‘Bank Boss Susan Rice’s free £1m house‘, with the strap line: ‘Outcry as taxpayers’ money funds perk for Lloyds’ top Scottish banker’.
Its opening paragraph summarised the situation: ‘Lloyds banking group, which is set to receive a £260 billion bailout from the government, is quietly providing a £1m grace and favour house and a chauffeur-driven limousine for its Scottish boss.
‘Susan Rice, managing director of the group north of the border, enjoys the use of a two-storey Georgian townhouse in one of Edinburgh’s most exclusive residential areas, despite the bank’s massive losses’.
Jamie McGrigor has written to the non-panjandrum out of frustration and a sharp awareness of the need for action on this matter. His style in a foray may be gracefully mannered rather than charging with bayonet to the fore – but he knows a sharp piece of evidence to advance when he sees it. Here is the text of his letter.
‘I am a Conservative MSP for the Highlands & Islands Region which covers everything from Campbeltown to Shetland including Moray.
‘I came to the reception of the BBA(Editor: British Bankers Association) last night and was impressed by your speech and also that of Angela Knight. You mentioned that you wish to bring the shine back to the Bank of Scotland. On that point I have to say that I have come across an issue which would merit your attention in that regard.
‘I have received a great many emails and letters from constituents from the Island of Islay in Argyll & Bute where there is a threat to remove the local bank manager from the Bank of Scotland.
‘Islay is exceptional in that, although it probably produces more revenue for the UK Treasury than any other island through the fact it has 9 distilleries and 10 if you include the island of Jura next door, it is remote and requires a 2 and a half hour ferry trip or else can be reached by aeoroplane from Glasgow.
‘It makes the people of Islay very angry that their bank manager is being removed without any consultation with local businesses or local people and they will be forced to deal with someone in a call centre in the mainland who will have no knowledge of their personal circumstances or the intricacies of living on an island in the Inner Hebrides.
‘I understand that indeed the business manager who has lately been appointed to deal with Islay businesses now has more customers from Islay than he has in Oban.
‘Many of these people have shown great loyalty to the Bank of Scotland for many years and feel they are being dumped because of a broad brush approach from HQ which does not take account of the particular circumstances of the 3,500 people who live on Islay.
‘It has hit the local press and I enclose one or 2 examples of emails which are self explanatory.
‘We were also told by Mr Kerr that there had been a survey of thousands of businesses In the west of Scotland but noone on Islay appears to have been approached in this fashion
‘I have personally written several letters to the Chief Executive of the Bank and have relayed the replies to my constituents. The replies have not come from the CE but from 2 other people and are composed of a standard letter of which the paragraphs have been jumbled about to give the appearance of something which is not a standard letter!
‘It is pretty sick making for the Bank of Scotland clients on Islay to be treated in this way and will certainly not put a shine back on the Bank of Scotland on the west coast.
‘Some feel that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that worse is to follow, possibly with even the branch closing down altogether.
‘I personally have had an account with the Bank of Scotland for over 40 years and have always found it to be excellent in its personal approach. One did indeed feel that this was the bank that liked to say yes, as often advertised in the past.
‘I appreciate the grave difficulties faced by most sections of the banking community but having listened to you speak on rebuilding the bank’s reputation I felt I should write to you with this example of something which will certainly not achieve the end you referred to.
I entreat you to inquire into the question of the bank manager on Islay and to use your influence to maintain the bank manager in situ.
‘I thank you for your time in this matter and look forward to your reply’.
It will be very interesting to see what this self-declared ‘bastion of social responsibility’ will now do for the ‘poor and disenfranchised’ – not to mention the many serious and to-be-disenfranchised businesses – on Islay.
For background and the widespread reaction to this mater on Islay, read our original article and the host of comments it has received and is receiving: McGrigor slams HBOS on Islay businesses left beached.
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December 1st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Jim Mather had a meeting with Susan Rice with points raised below
Dear Gus,
Apologies for the delay, I have only just got clear of the backlog of woek that piled up as a result of earlier meetings.
As discussed, I met Susan Rice – who had read all the bacground material and seen the Islay petition and was quick to state that she “didn’t want a degradation of service” for banking customers on Islay.
She was also at pains to say that this planned change was not about Islay or island communities but rather the development of a model that was working well elsewhere, where she claimed other customers were happy with the service.
She reiterated that they would assign a relationship manager to Islay business customers and while most interactions would be by phone and internet, there would be a presumption that the relationship manager could be regularly on Islay in response to customer needs.
Her objective was that the same service would be delivered in a smarter, slicker way, with face to face potential as required – with the caveat that she would react if it was felt that “anything was missing” and that the Bank was adamantly “not pulling out”.
In other words, she is saying she will keep a close eye on how this “new model” pans out and will listen to any issues that arise.
She also voiced an enthusiasm to work with Argyll & Bute to see if we could broker a tighter form of support from the ranks of the banks, accountants, lawyers, HIE, Argyll & Bute Council and the new Business Gateway service that shares premises with HIE in Kilmory.
We now have her attention and I suggest that we use this avenue of communication to keep her posted on the view from Islay.
Regards
Jim
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
What do you expect from an Industry that hs been branded by the regulator as “Socially Useless”