Head of the Royal Bank of Scotland Ross McEwen. Illustration / Rod Emmerson
Head of the Royal Bank of Scotland Ross McEwen. Illustration / Rod Emmerson
Royal Bank of Scotland boss Ross McEwan follows through on his promise to return $2.4m of his share-based allowance by last week giving $1.2m to charity.
Ross McEwan is giving banking a good name.
In a profession so often associated with the making of money, the head of the Royal Bank of Scotland is giving some away.
The 58-year-old Kiwi expat turned heads in February when he told RBS' board that he would be returning an estimated 1 million ($2.4 million) of his share-based allowance.
"Ross does not want this issue to be a distraction from the task of building a great bank for customers and shareholders," the bank said at the time.
His stance immediately drew contrasts with his predecessor, Stephen Hester, who courted controversy over bonuses during his reign.
And the former head of First NZ Capital Securities has made good on his commitment.
When RBS announced last week it had given out 3.35 million in shares to its top bosses, it said McEwan's 500,000 award would go to charity, once tax was deducted.
While such an act should be applauded, McEwan has hardly taken a vow of poverty and will still rake in more than a 1 million this year.
And Business Insider is not holding its breath that McEwan will inspire other British bankers to follow suit.
There was certainly no indication that the other nine RBS executives felt anywhere near as generous.
Streisand Effect
American singer Barbra Streisand has all but disappeared from New Zealand airwaves but the Mother of All Contemporary Pop Divas' presence was felt here this week.
Business Insider is hardly a fan of the 73-year-old artist but a keen follower of the phenomenon dubbed the "Streisand Effect" - used when someone inadvertently amplifies information by trying to keep it hidden from prying eyes.
Streisand's association with this unfortunate circumstance came after she launched an unsuccessful privacy lawsuit in 2003.
In it, the entertainer tried to remove an aerial photo of her California mansion from a database that up to that point had been accessed only a handful of times.
However, the ensuing publicity saw hundreds of thousands of internet users flock to the otherwise banal picture.
The Streisand Effect hit New Zealand shores this week and is likely echoing in the ears of Auckland pharmacist Jawahar Bhaskar Musuku.
Musuku earned himself unwanted attention after trying to keep his tax fight out of the public eye.
Musuku, who didn't file income tax returns on time between 2001 and 2005 was later probed for "possible tax evasion", would have escaped notice had he not applied for name suppression. It was only the push for secrecy that made Business Insider look more deeply into his case.
Market manipulation-accused Mark Warminger remains on extended leave from Milford Asset Management but appears to have upped his stake in the firm slightly, following a share shuffle.
Warminger is defending a civil case launched by the Financial Markets Authority, which alleges that trading undertaken by Warminger between December 2013 and August last year amounted to market manipulation. The portfolio manager was a star of the investment team at Milford, which reached its own $1.5 million settlement with the FMA following a market manipulation probe. According to Companies Office records, Milford appears to have gone through a routine small-time share issue. As a result, Warminger now owns 1.9 per cent of the firm - slightly up from the 1.7 per cent he was reported as owning in June, when he was pulled off the investment team and put on extended leave.
Milford's managing director Anthony Quirk did not return a call from Business Insider yesterday.
Bob Jones' Robt Jones Holdings is New Zealand's largest private CBD office building owner. Photo / Richard Robinson
Transtasman twist
The slog between Northern Crest Investments' liquidators and Bob Jones' firm has taken another twist, with the revelation that Australian law might govern their drawn-out dispute.
Northern Crest Investments, part of the Blue Chip group, leased a floor in a central Auckland office tower from Robt Jones Holdings but up-and-left from the premises in August 2008, halfway through a six-year lease.
Robt Jones Holdings - New Zealand's largest private CBD office building owner - got a High Court judgment in September 2009 against Northern Crest for $300,000 - which was paid after liquidation proceedings were brought.
The now-failed firm then settled other debts with the property mogul's company before moving operations across the Tasman in November 2010.
Northern Crest Investments' liquidators have identified $750,000 of payments from Northern Crest to Robt Jones Holdings they believe are voidable and want set aside.
Robt Jones Holdings is opposing this and may seek to argue the case on the basis of Australian law, the High Court heard this week.
The argument would go that Northern Crest's business activities were in Australia, all activities relevant to payments made by Northern Crest occurred in Australia, and that any voidable transaction claim by the liquidators is governed by Australian law, not New Zealand law.
Queen's Counsel for the liquidators Brian Keene argued in the High Court on Wednesday that this was a big change and the case had been moving along on the basis it would be argued according to New Zealand law.
He indicated the liquidators may file an application for wasted costs.
