Comment: More shame for banks on slow swap pay-outs

Because of their complexity, the banks may have some excuse for the time it is taking to work through the 30,000 claims, but the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, claimed it would take only six months to clear the list – a deadline that looks hugely optimistic given that the process began four months ago.

Royal Bank of Scotland is the worst offender with around three times as many claims as each of its three big rivals. Given the slow pace of progress, this will be among the items sitting in new boss Ross McEwan’s in-tray when he takes over the reins at Gogarburn next month.

A big worry for the banks is that the small business customers that form a vital core of their customer base say they are losing faith in their lenders – and even with the new regulator, which only came into being in April.

Some might argue that company owners lost faith in the banks long before this latest revelation, but the statement from the Federation of Small Businesses indicates that their patience is at risk of running out altogether.

Scotch enjoying its image as fashion icon

SCOTCH whisky has been enjoying a long and welcome boom and the latest figures confirm that there is no end in sight.

What is particularly interesting in half-year data is the rebound in demand from western countries and in each case it probably mirrors what is happening in their economies. French buyers have overcome the adverse affects of a duty hike while the rise in demand in Spain suggests the country may be slowly getting back on its feet.

In the US, there is also a growing demand for Scotch through its association with television series such as Mad Men. More generally it has been given a modern makeover which has changed its image from old man’s poison to a fashionable icon.

On the back of these trends, the Scotch sector has been benefiting from investment by the global drinks companies and confirming that an industry once thought to be on its deathbed is now playing a big part in Scotland’s recovery.

Former Co-op Bank boss right and wrong

NEVILLE RICHARDSON must have been feeling a little smug when the Co-op announced it was pulling out of the deal to buy 631 branches from Lloyds Banking Group. The former boss of the Co-operative Bank revealed yesterday to a committee of MPs that he opposed the deal and resigned when his views were ignored.

He said the bank was in good shape when he left in 2011, though this glosses over some of the underlying problems that were simmering on his watch, most obviously the bad loans that it inherited in its 2009 merger with Britannia Building Society where he had been chief executive.

The merger was trumpeted as the birth of the “super mutual” and both claimed the superiority of their model over their shareholder-owned rivals.

Richardson may have been proved right on the Co-op’s attempt to acquire the Lloyds’ assets, but he should be careful not to appear holier than thou.

Twitter: @TerryMurden1