KEN Murray is hungry for the launch of his second bank with the raison d'etre of eating building societies.
Bank of Edinburgh, launched in 1990 but in most respects identical to the new Murray Financial Corporation, was ahead of its time and lost the backing of its major shareholder, Scottish Amicable, on the eve of pulling off the first acquisition of a building society by a plc.
Murray commented: ''Publicly, people commit themselves to mutuality, although privately many many boards now accept that things are happening in the financial sector, and they are going to continue to happen.
''The strategy is as true now as it was then. We have changed the board, and we are not going to make the same mistake in terms of shareholders. That was a hard lesson to learn, and having learned it I am not going to make that mistake again.''
As I recall, ScotAm pulled the rug on the venture largely because certain senior executives were privately uncomfortable with backing an entrepreneurial small company board.
What really stuck in the craw was that the key directors stood to make money from pushing through successful deals. That was incompatible with the culture of a life office.
And options for directors were something that the board of Scot Am would never have countenanced for themselves, of course.
'Crum of comfort
THE Fulcrum Challenge, which ''invests in the business and social leaders of the future'' by part-funding them for the trip of a lifetime, is on the lookout for sponsors.
The Scottish challenge will this year enable 20 young high-fliers of school-leaving age to reach the heights of Ladakh in the Himalayas.
The challenge, which is backed by the Scientific Exploration Society, British Airways and the
Millennial Foundation, came to Scotland last year with additional support from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, YES, and the Scottish Chambers of
Commerce, which raised money from Scottish Enterprise and Grampian Television among others.
A meeting for potential sponsors will be held at the RSGS, Graham Hills Building, 40 George Street, Glasgow, on Monday, May 11, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
Mad as a hatter
TALKING of mutual boards, executives at Scottish Widows discovered for themselves the perils of corporate gifts this week.
The hard hats they sent out in large boxes for Press invitees to the launch of their new headquarters building were, of course, a PR rather than a health and safety requirement.
Alas, those same invitees returned to the new HQ on Tuesday to what should have been a quiet annual meeting, only to witness policyholders hurling brickbats at the board. And not a hard hat in sight.
Fear and Lothian
THE Clydesdale Bank's fine new building at Lothian Road has a state-of-the-art set of lifts.
Once you are safely trapped inside, a steely disembodied Scots voice announces the floors at every stage (excellent for the
visually-impaired).
But the voice also intones ''doors closing'' and ''doors opening'' at all too frequent intervals.
I was assured by staff that the voice was ''supposed to be Sean Connery''.
After only one trip in the lift, which happened to have the inner workings of the compartment exposed to view, I was ready to cut the wires and smash the circuit board responsible for this ghastly gismo too far.
Perhaps a radio station could be set up to entertain the lift-riders of our swish new office blocks (Lift FM?).
Failing that, the ''Connery'' is clearly an excellent device for keeping your workforce fit, as most will be driven to use the stairs.
The Norse is with us
A SHIPBUILDING company which this week celebrated its 20th anniversary in Scotland is helping to keep alive traditional skills almost lost to Scotland.
Ulstein UK has almost trebled its workforce from 33 to 90 following a five-year expansion programme at its Hillend plant near Dunfermline. Ulstein UK, part of the Norwegian shipbuilding and repairs group, builds ship propulsion systems, making it one of the last surviving heavy industries in Scotland to supply shipbuilding world-wide.
The programme has been supported by Fife Enterprise, Locate in Scotland and Scottish
Enterprise, and in August the company will take on its first two young workers under the Modern Apprentices scheme.
The story was being told this week at a meeting of the Scottish Norwegian Business Forum, which itself was celebrating 10 years of encouraging trading links across the North Sea and welcomed The Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Britain His
Excellency Kjell Colding as guest of honour
Ulstein's managing director and forum member David Borthwick said annual Scottish exports to Norway had rose by 40% to #488m in 1996.
But Borthwick added: ''I think we need to be realistic and say that members in the forum will be
taking sides on June 16.''
All co-operation will be formally suspended for 90 minutes
during the World Cup encounter.
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