The Elephant In The Stand
Watching the arguments about the performance of Manchester United this season, gives me a very much a sense of deja vu.
The talk is just the same as it was, when Wilf McGuinness succeeded Matt Busby, except that with social media it is in more places.
When a manager retires, who had a tremendous effect on a club, company or organisation, inevitably the one who follows suffers from the presence of his predecessor. You could argue that Tesco, post-Leahy has similarly suffered.
Moyes will probably go and Manchester United won’t do anything until Sir Alex stops being seen at the club.
Would Any Sane Person Bank with RBS?
RBS had yet another computer failure last night, as reported here on the BBC.
This would appear to be the third time, after this failure in March and the one referred to here in 2012.
If you search this blog for Natworst, you’ll find a few more customer service failures.
Show me someone who banks with RBS or one of their sorry subsidiaries and I’ll show you an idiot! Why haven’t they moved their account away from this complete travesty of a company? The answer must be a five letter word beginning with I.
Peer-to-Peer Lending Sites Compared
I found this page, which compares peer-to-peer lending sites across the world.
It’s interesting reading and if nothing else it shows how peer-to-peer lending sites are starting up all over the world.
There’s a rumour that a forward-thinking person is opening a toilet paper shop in the City, with a branch in the new Canary Wharf station-cum shopping centre.
You don’t need laws to curb the excesses of bankers, you need to innovate them out of a job.
A Silly Mistake Whilst Shopping
I needed to buy something from a well-known company.
However, because what I wanted was a little off the web site, in that I needed a special part, I ordered it by telephone.
The money was deducted from my credit card and I knew delivery would take a couple of weeks.
Yesterday, as I still hadn’t had the product, I phoned the company and they said the courier had been unable to deliver my goods.
It then turned out that two digits in my address had been reversed in the address used in their computer system. But the credit card details had obviously been entered correctly.
This to me says, that companies need to get their on-line businesses as comprehensive as possible.
For instance, with this special order, they need a form, where you enter your details and your requirements, so hopefully these go straight into the company’s system. Even, if it’s just a cut and paste.
An Unexpected Positive Benefit Of The New Bus for London
This story from Toy News, tells how Corgi are increasing their range of New Bus for London models.
At £36.99 each, somebody must be making some money.
Zopa Breaks The Million Pound Barrier
In the last seven days, if you ignore Saturday and Sunday, when they don’t normally distribute loans, they have lent out 5.7 million pounds, which works out at over a million pounds every working day.
Can this steady level of high lending be in part due to the troubles at the Co-operative Bank?
If we believe the stance of the Co-op, their typical customer will be an ethical person, who probably thinks seriously about their money. They will probably think, that bankers are responsible for a lot of problems. I won’t say anything about their politics as being sensible with and thinking about money, is not the preserve of any political leaning. I’m even sure that some people who might support some extreme parties, may well have some of the best structured finances in the country.
But with the Co-op banks troubles, are these thinking people deserting the bank before it is too late and for their saving and borrowing, they are going to the peer-to-peer lenders like Zopa.
Certainly, if I look at my lending on Zopa, the rate of late payments and new bad debts seems to have fallen compared to a year ago. This could be put down to better checking on the company’s part, but is it also due to the fact that those that think about their money are moving away from the banks.
So are the peer-to-peer lenders contributing to the demise of the Co-operative Bank?
Dalston On BBC Breakfast
Dalston featured in a report on BBC Breakfast this morning.
It was all about payday loans.
It is almost impossible to walk down the Kingsland Road without falling over the endless number of boards offering loans on the street.
All loans no matter where they are from, should be properly registered on a central database, which is then checked for anomalies and excessive borrowings.
The FCA is imposing new regulations as reported here on the BBC.
But no matter what regulations are tabled, it will not stop people borrowing at rates, they can’t afford. So the new regulations will probably turn out to be a business opportunity for loan sharks.
A Missed Opportunity
Was it? But some years ago, I backed a guy making something called a TEBA brush mat. The company failed, but judging by these examples in Oslo, mats are being sold under another guise.
I’ve been lucky in life, but perhaps this is one place, where I didn’t do as well as I should have.
Tumblr News Give Me A Plug
I don’t read Tumblr News but they must sometimes read my blog, as this article entitled, Former OFT boss: regulation can be a bridge to new customers, has a link to this post of mine. In that post from August 29th, 2009, I said I had over £30,000 invested in Zopa and now nearly four yeas later it is just a shade under £140,000, with total interest of nearly £140,000 and bad debts of just £650.
I think I’ll accept that!
My investment in Zopa has certainly performed better than pudence’s investment in the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers and Lloyds TSBleed.
The Times Gets Serious About Free From Foods
The Times today has a piece about the growing market for foods free from various allergens. They state that the market grew eleven percent last year to £340 million.
In the piece, they have a box describing the success of Genius bread. This says that one of the investors in the company was Bill Gammell, a former Scottish rugby union player and founder of Cairn Energy. They also state that he is a coeliac. We need more to say they are coeliacs and also for newspapers to avoid the dreaded D-word.
The Anonymous Widower 