Tery Murden: Signs good for Legal and General if it can just nab Stewart

Published on Friday 20 November 2009 21:20

WHEN he announced that he was stepping down from National Australia Bank, John Stewart said he was open-minded about any new job offers. That was precisely a year ago and it looks like the Scot who fixed NAB after its foreign-currency trading scandal will be taking on a new challenge in the insurance sector.

If the City rumour mill is correct, he'll be installed as chairman of Legal & General. His appointment will solve a problem for the insurer, which has been searching for a successor to Sir Rob Margetts for a year. But with L&G in less than robust condition and facing a possible bid from the acquisitive Clive Cowdery it looks as though Stewart may have his hands full.

However, it is the sort of challenge he relishes. He was parachuted in as chief executive at NAB to replace Frank Cicutto after it emerged that four of its foreign currency traders had been involved in unauthorised trades that cost the bank A$360m (174m). The traders were jailed, and NAB picked up an investor relations award, for best crisis management of the year, that at least offered some sense of a "job well done" when it could have turned out a whole lot worse.

But after four years in Melbourne, having turned around NAB, Stewart felt he'd achieved his goal, upped sticks and returned to Britain.

He was non-committal when I asked him last year about chairing one of the bailed-out banks, and as he's now aged 60 it was thought he may have preferred to sail his yacht and take life a little easier.

L&G is a tough gig as it finds itself in defence mode. A break-up of its businesses has been suggested and this month it reported its lowest quarterly sales figures for at least seven quarters.

After being spurned by a succession of likely candidates to take the chairmanship it looks like L&G has no problems hiring from outside the insurance sector, though it clearly prefers someone with a financial services background.

In Stewart it will also be getting a veteran with overseas experience as it continues to pursue its expansion plans. Clearly it is getting on with growth, whether or not Clive Cowdery's shadow looms over the boardroom.

Big shows of strength

SCOTTISH firms have been out shopping and announcing expansion plans in what must be regarded as something of a show of strength, or defiance, or possibly both.

With the economy still mired in difficulty and only likely to recover slowly, it is encouraging to see three announcements that suggest there is life in the old dog yet.

The Fraser of Allander Institute revealed that the country's growth rate is only likely to move from poor to sluggish. The outlook is more beige than sunny and the chances of the country kicking its public sector dependency is as far as away as ever.

But at least there are companies railing against the overall gloom, and two deals in particular show that there is a determination to forge ahead.

First came Berwickshire-based BSW Timber's 30m acquisition of Dalbeattie firm Howie, followed by Highland Spring's decision to buy the Scottish and Welsh businesses of Greencore Group.

The latest development caps the lot: a south-west Scotland firm's plans to develop the world's biggest data centre: a project that could cost 1.5 billion to set up and could attract 3bn in private sector funding.

If it comes off this will transform the south of Scotland, bringing some sophisticated technology and jobs to the area.

Data centres are big business amid the growing digitisation of information. E-mails, online banking, the BBC's iPlayer, criminal records – the list covers everything we do.

The plan by Lockerbie Data Centres to develop a site near the town has been on the cards since the turn of the year. The local council will approve the development next week, signalling the birth of a potentially exciting future.