Comment: RBS fights crime | Debenhams Xmas ads

SOME will permit themselves a wry smile at Royal Bank of Scotland agreeing to provide free inside information – sorry – to City of London police on how best to tackle financial crime. It is somewhat ironic, as RBS boss Ross McEwan has candidly admitted the partly taxpayer controlled bank is still facing several expected “bumps in the road” from ongoing litigation issues of its own.

The group has already been fined £390 million for the part its traders played in rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), the rate at which banks lend to each other that also underpins trillions of pounds of less esoteric financial contracts such as mortgages and the interest added to credit card bills. RBS also set aside £400m last week to cover its potential fines in an ongoing regulatory inquiry into the alleged manipulation of the global currency markets.

If one was flippant one would say the City of London police will be getting the lowdown on complex financial crime from the horse’s mouth.

But, to be fair, RBS’s contribution of financial expertise to counter murky areas will be valuable both practically for the police and in public relations terms for the bank, while probes into its own conduct will apparently be ring-fenced from the ground-breaking venture.

Bank staff will support police training and research and development projects, but will not be involved in any operational police activity.

The City of London cops obviously have their own specialist knowledge from their Square Mile beat. But it surely can’t but help their efficiency to gain input from the other side of the fence in areas like financial markets, cyber technology, international jurisdictions etc.

In this, the British authorities are taking a leaf out of the book of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States.

In the aftermath of the financical crisis, the SEC was not too proud to hire banking industry specialists to help fight cyber crime in the atmosphere of heightened nervousness that prevailed.

The potential for commercial damage has been thrown into stark relief after a flurry of high-profile cyber attacks, including one on JPMorgan Chase this year that saw the theft of personal data, including names and addresses, from 76 million American households.

In the past leading British banks have at times seconded staff to regulators to help them in their work. This seems a useful, practical extension of that practice.

Debenhams gets the Xmas party going early

DEPARTMENT store group Debenhams is first out of the traps this year with the virtually obligatory Christmas ad campaigns. It started with five-second “teaser” slots – oh, the marketing jargon – from the group in late October, which is quite depressing.

Debs will move on to the “Found It” campaign’s television debut during X Factor on Saturday. The company’s press release says the aim of the campaign will be “to hero its gifting offer”. Do keep up.

I remember when Trevor Bish-Jones was the pretty successful boss of the old Woolworths retail chain until it all ended in the tears of administration.

He refused to put Woolies Xmas TV campaigns out early because the premature onset of festive cheer depressed him, too. Losing battle. John Lewis, M&S, Tesco and all the rest will be jingling the televisual festive bells in rapid succession.