New Statesman Scotland
"There is nothing sexy or glamorous about an old story, but banking should be boring," boasts Peter Burt, the chief executive of the Bank of Scotland, of his own strategy. Insert the word insurance for banking and you have the tactic of the directors of Standard Life. These mighty Edinburgh oligarchs (well, influential golfers if you prefer) have presented a case of such sleepy smugness that upstart members who had no right to expect to topple the board are near to doing so.
The Bank of Scotland burned £54m in fruitless "advice" from consultants in its failed bid to buy National Westminster. Standard Life may end up wasting a comparable sum defending the quaint but pointless status as a mutual society.
Fred Woolard, the leader of the popular members' uprising against the directors' smugness, is right to ask: if mutuality is such a splendid idea, why does none of Standard Life's directors recommend it to the other companies of which they are directors?
Unable to find a Scottish team of lobbyists or PR consultants, Standard Life has agreed a chunky fee to Brunswick, noted as effective bruisers in their craft.
Fancy fees cannot hide the fact that conversion to PLC status will give it access to far more capital and allow a pleasing rain of cash to fall on its 2.3 million members in time for the summer holidays. Standard Life's inept handling of its members' revolt cannot now be reversed. The little men have won.
It now seems that Scottish Provident and Friends Provident will also convert into PLCs before autumn. The biggest Scottish "mutual" remains the Co-op. Can it be far behind?
Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has formed a link with the Scottish arm of the Institute of Directors to create a learning network for capitalists who are too busy to take the time off for an MBA. Tom Sunter, of the IoD, says that he thinks managers and owners are far better teachers than academics. "Talking frankly and openly to people with comparable problems promises to be far more rewarding than the abstractions of professors who never really need to implement their ideas."
The Scottish Directors Centre should build up a fascinating series of case studies if, as its proponents expect, participants will confess all their dilemmas. Rivalry will be suspended as everyone becomes colleagues. The group has already adopted the nickname Capitalists Anonymous. The IoD is not certain whether it will allow Scottish public sector managers into the seminars.
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