HSBC spoils TSB results party with appearance before MPs – but they don’t mind
It can be nerve-wracking hosting a party for the first time – what if nobody comes? Have I bought enough food? Will it clash with a more glitzy event in the social calendar?
The same applies in the City, too. Yesterday was a big day for TSB, presenting its first set of full-year financial results to journalists since splitting from Lloyds.
There was no problem with the figures on offer, with solid financial results. And with the chief exec Paul Pester and finance boss Darren Pope on hand, there was no shortage of good company.
But the diary clash was a terrible one.
Just as TSB gets its big chance to show off, HSBC tramples in with a glamorous and eye-catching scandal. When TSB was placing orders for sandwiches and cake, this might not have been a worry – surely the HSBC tax row would be over by now?
But weeks into the spat, bosses Stuart Gulliver and Douglas Flint appeared in front of MPs, an irresistible draw for the press pack.
In the end, only two reporters turned up for the TSB bash, embarrassingly outnumbered by the bank’s staff. The half-dozen platters of sandwiches were left largely unmolested, and only a few bites of cake were enjoyed.
But at least TSB’s party was spoiled by a rival getting into trouble. The Capitalist suspects the chiefs enjoyed the contrast with a badly behaved banking giant.