Check out Benny
What will high street banks look like when the dust has settled on the current calamity?
Will the Royal Bank of Scotland eventually be sold off to a stronger rival? Will Lloyds Banking Group use and abuse its newly dominant market position, as the Office of Fair Trading fears it could?
And will a new entrant to the market sweep past them and grab market share?
If it's the latter, watch out for Benny Higgins.
Yesterday, he announced he's recruiting 200 staff to add to the 250 he already employs at the Edinburgh headquarters of Tesco Personal Finance.
That's some way short of the RBS total of nearly 180,000 employees.
His bank recently bought out the RBS share which has helped the supermarket giant build up its personal finance arm over the past 11 years.
Lost faith
It has been operating independently since December, while RBS still provides branded back office support under sub-contract.
And with the big banks shedding staff, Higgins can have the pick of the bunch as Edinburgh financiers look for somewhere new, fresh and going places.
Today, we saw figures for how much savings deposits have rocketed, as people have lost faith in troubled, longer-established banks and shifted their funds.
Not only Tesco has benefited from that - expect more news about that trend soon.
The Tesco Personal Finance chief executive is not one to crow about his strong position; without debt problems or government ownership, and with a customer-focused and trusted brand with a very large presence in every one of Britain's postal districts, along with expanding international reach.
It already has 5.5 million customers, and 28 financial products.
Being cautious
He told me on Monday that trust and building customer loyalty is going to be crucial to the Tesco offering.
But he is reluctant to set targets for how much it could grow.
He has done well out of being cautious, even if it lost him his last job.
He worked with Sir Fred Goodwin at the Royal Bank, and while he wasn't willing to discuss him this week, he has recently been quoted generously praising the former RBS chief executive.
More recently, Higgins was head of retail at HBOS under Andy Hornby and was pushed out two years ago as punishment for the loss of market share in the new mortgage market.
What followed at HBOS was the drive to win back that market share with the reckless lending that last week landed HBOS with billions of pounds of losses.
And while Andy Hornby is now the one out of a job, Benny Higgins has good reason to look pretty pleased with himself, quietly confident about Tesco's market strengths.
Hullo, I'm Douglas Fraser, and I'm business and economy editor at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Scotland. Welcome to my blog, where you can read my take on money matters, viewed from a Scottish perspective.
Comment number 1.
At 3rd Mar 2009, Wee-Scamp wrote:This is a very silly comparison.. Tesco Finance does not lend to small companies or take part in developing the Scottish economy. It is purely a bank for savers and people that want to earn Tesco points.
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Comment number 2.
At 4th Mar 2009, freedjmac wrote:Douglas,
Wee-Scamp's point about the excessive comparisons is well made!
But two things need to be answered here.
First, what does the banking license which Tesco holds, actually permit?
Second, what remit has Benny Higgins been given by Tesco?
I remember BH as a 'young turk' star at RBS and I would be astonished if he could ever be satisfied with being in a job dealing with personal finance only! Was he recruited on the basis of a radical development planned by the Teso chiefs for their banking operation?
Douglas drops a hint that something may be in the offing and I would have little doubt that there could be at least a niche opportunity for a new corporate bank, unburdened by the recent legacies of HBOS and RBS.
We need to know!
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Comment number 3.
At 4th Mar 2009, nine2ninetysix wrote:Benny worked at Standard Life, notorious for supporting RBS and misleading investors over so called safe "cash funds".
He is a big fan of Fred Goodwin, enough said, and moved to HBOS under Hornby.
He is expanding Tesco Finance.
Hmm!
Sounds worringly familiar. Lets hope he has more scruples and financial acumen than his mentors.
But then again Tescopoly rules.
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Comment number 4.
At 5th Mar 2009, yourfriendforlife wrote:So its out with Goodwin, McKillop, Hornby and Stevenson, all castigated for their lack of professional banking qualifications.
..........and bring in a Benny Higgins.
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