CITY WHISPERS: TSB mulls bonus for ex-boss, five years after IT fiasco

The lender sardonically known as the ‘Totally Shambolic Bank’ is set to block a controversial bonus for the former boss who presided over a disastrous IT meltdown. 

Millions of TSB customers were locked out of their accounts for weeks in 2018 after a botched IT upgrade. 

Former chief executive Paul Pester quit with a £1.7million pay-off the same year but an extra amount was deferred pending the outcome of both a Slaughter & May investigation in 2019 and a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority. 

Signing off: Millions of TSB customers were locked out of their accounts for weeks in 2018 after a botched IT upgrade

The TSB board will decide in the next few weeks what, if anything, Pester and other executives who have since left the bank will receive. 

But sources say that, in the wake of a £49million fine by the FCA last month and the damning verdict by both probes, any payment could be seen as a ‘reward for failure’.

Burberry resisting pressure over director

Burberry is resisting shareholder pressure to remove the boss of Danone from his role as an independent director at the luxury fashion house. 

The trench coat maestros got a bloody nose at July’s annual meeting when a third of votes were cast against reelecting Antoine de Saint-Affrique. 

Irked investors were concerned he did not have enough time for Burberry alongside his day job at the French food giant turning around the Actimel and Alpro owner. 

But Burberry isn’t budging. 

In a statement last week it said it had spoken to shareholders but believes he has ‘capacity to devote sufficient time’ to his duties. 

Those thinking ‘quelle surprise’ can at least turn their attention to a third-quarter trading update, due on Wednesday. 

Has Hoyle missed out on The Works deal? 

Could Dean Hoyle, former chairman of The Works, have missed out on a cracking deal at the discount retailer? 

The Card Factory founder and Huddersfield Town FC chairman sold out of the firm last week, having owned 16.75 per cent of it with his wife Janet until October, when they began selling off their stake. 

In December alone the pair flogged 5 per cent of the group. But did they move too quickly, with all but one deal coming before a 36 per cent rally that began in January? 

Ouch. 

Fresnillo marked down on climate policy 

Silver may be a critical material for the green revolution, but one of the London Stock Exchange’s biggest miners has been marked down for its climate change policies. 

Fresnillo was booted out of the FTSE4Good index – a list of the bourse’s most environmentally and socially robust firms – at a review last month. 

Housebuilder Galliford Try was also deleted – though it appears this was a technicality and it is set to rejoin. 

Fresnillo and Galliford were replaced by Tyman and Plus500. But Fresnillo was still boasting of the stamp of approval on its website this weekend. 

It has been alerted by this column… 

                                                                                                                            Contributor: Patrick Tooher 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk