Business Diary: August 30

So, when Diary attended MPC member Martin Weale’s visit to Doncaster Racecourse, he expected to hear some mention of Yorkshire grit.

It turned out that Mr Weale’s family has strong links with Doncaster.

Mr Weale told the assembled audience of the great and the good that his grandfather grew up in Doncaster, and gained his earliest experience of work in Doncaster library.

Sadly, the Weale family’s links with the library were to prove short-lived. Apparently, the librarian decided that he couldn’t afford to keep Mr Weale’s grandfather in a job and pay for the electric lighting.

It must have been a brutal lesson in the constraints of public sector spending.

In his speech, which was released on August 25, Mr Weale highlighted the likely problems caused by our reluctance to save more.

The speech read: “In the last 10 or 15 years before the (financial) crisis, there was no obvious tendency to save much more, despite the fact that we have been aware both that we are living longer, and that the baby boom generation was at an age where one would expect high rates of savings to pay for its retirement.

“Indeed, our saving record would have made sense only if we either planned to retire much later than most people do, or could be confident of earning the sort of returns delivered to successful investors in Doncaster’s most famous horse race.”

A different challenge for the crash victims

BRADFORD & Bingley and Northern Rock have become symbols of the worst pre-credit crunch financial imprudence in the UK banking sector.

Northern Rock was nationalised three years ago after the first run on a British bank in over a century, when queues of desperate savers formed outside its branches to withdraw savings.

B&B demutualised in 2000 but was nationalised in September 2008 after a disastrous expansion into buy-to-let and self-certified mortgages. Despite this recent history, UKAR chief executive Richard Banks said morale is very good.

“This is an exciting challenge and I believe the workforce are up for it,” he said. “We’ve been very open.

“This is not a long-term career – you’re not going to be here in 30 years taking your gold watch. Our aim in the short term is to be a best-in-class service provider.”

UKAR now employs about 2,400 staff, with about 1,020 at B&B.

Banking on friendly service in Egypt

THE Arab spring could lead to new opportunities in financial services, which is good news for a training company based on the fringe of the Yorkshire Dales.

Skipton wouldn’t appear to be the most obvious place for senior figures in the Egyptian banking system to visit in order to pick up tips about improving customer service.

Tyro, the commercial training division of Craven College, recently welcomed four senior managers from the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI), which is part of the Central Bank of Egypt.

In recent years, Tyro has worked with EBI to support the development and training of the banking sector in Egypt.

This work has become even more important since the Egyptian uprising in January, which opened the door to further commercial opportunities.

Training has taken place over the last nine months in Cairo, and hasn’t been disrupted by the upheavals caused by the Arab spring.

The recent five-day visit included meetings with some of Tyro’s clients, including Skipton Building Society.

The delegates took part in interactive sessions, where they explored ideas which they will take back to support the work of EBI in Egypt.

So if you’re impressed with the quality of customer service in an Egyptian bank, it could all be down to work carried out in Skipton.

Hotel’s Union Jack seems to be flagging

PULLING into Leeds train station, Diary’s wandering gaze rose skywards and settled on the flagpole atop The Queens hotel.

Flapping in the wind was a large, dirty and torn Union Jack.

If you ever wanted a visual metaphor for decline, you would have to look no further.

A potent symbol if ever was. Perhaps hoteliers at the Q group might like to buy a new flag.