Martin Vander Weyer writes in The Spectator about Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. It comes close to the top of a few league tables: Italy’s third largest bank, Europe’s weakest bank, the world’s oldest bank.
It was founded in Siena in 1472 to lend money to “poor or miserable or needy persons” the money being provided by farmers. Now, thanks to reckless expansion and diversification, it is bust; another Northern Rock – what a misnomer. I put it to you that for every business that makes a success out of changing its business model there are loads that go to the wall.
Take a look at a bank that has stuck to its knitting. Rabobank traces its origins back to 1864 as a farmers’ bank, borrowing from and lending to people in the Dutch countryside. It has expanded into other markets and been wrong-footed a few times but it hasn’t ever, if I may use an appropriate expression, bet the ranch on these ventures. Its headquarters is still in Holland, not in Amsterdam or The Hague but Utrecht, Holland’s fourth largest city with a population of only about 335,000. Being away from the buzz keeps its feet on the ground.
So how is Rabobank faring? It is Holland’s second largest bank with its business still rooted in food and agriculture. It is ranked 25th in a table of the world’s safest banks and is one of the thirty biggest financial institutions in the world. It makes a nonsense of the saying “from clogs to clogs in three generations”. In Utrecht Rabobank shows every sign of staying in clogs for a good while longer, so long as it sticks to its knitting.
And now for something completely different. There is, probably, a Tube strike in London today. TfL have produced a map showing how long it takes to walk between stations which may be of interest.
Christopher,
As a former employee of NatWest Bank, I can only smile when reading your journal today. I remember so well when NatWest “fell” to The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which was headed by a CEO nicknamed “Fred The Shred” because of his reputation for cost-cutting. Alas, Fred’s got a little too big for his clogs and his reputation was shredded in due course when RBS had to be rescued by the UK taxpayer.
On a different note, I hope the Tube’s annual January strike will be over before my trip to London!
I had shares in GEC that was renamed Marconi once Lord Weinstock’s back was turned. From £12 a share they became valueless.
I know you are flying to Gatwick which is served by Southern. They are more or les permanently on strike so prepare for the worst.
Is it quite right to make the small is beautiful connection? Utrecht and Newcastle have about the same population. And feet on the ground is tricky too granted that Newcastle, Siena and Iceland might be watchwords for the authentic. Of course the SNP schtick is that their whole country is bathed in a moral ethos which the Imperialist, metropolitan English can’t achieve. Edinburgh ought to have been as solid as, well, as a rock.