Eldon-Online

Hungry Bankers

With bankers ranking around, or maybe just under, politicians in the popularity ratings, having fallen well behind lawyers but still just maintaining a lead over sex offenders, I note that they now appear to have encountered hard times. That said, certain investment bankers are not having to pull in their belts too tightly, as Howard Winn (In his "LaiSee" column - South China Morning Post) pointed out the other day when he showed scant pity towards Lloyd Blankfein's huge drop in salary to a miserable USD12m. (I note, Howard, you generously called the amount "earnings").

 But not ALL bankers are in easy street. I was much intrigued by a report in that purveyor of quality news in Britain, "The Sun" newspaper the other day where it told the tale of a banker (a female one) who was reportedly jailed for 15 months after biting off the top of a gentleman's ear. The poor chap was having a quiet drink with friends - well maybe not that quiet as it was a stag night - when the lady rushed over and bit off the ear. Even after conviction it remains unclear what caused the attack.

Surely you can picture the situation. With bankers being vilified everywhere, with self- esteem clearly at an all time low, and faced with the prospect of maybe being made redundant or worse, or losing large chunks of pay just like Mr. Blankfein, it is leading bankers to resort to desperate measures. But whereas in the past they only wanted blood - now they apparently want flesh too.

 Actually, you could be forgiven for thinking that I have a long term hatred of bankers, but having been one for 40 years that would be a trifle hard to countenance. I feel very sorry for the victim in the case above, but I have to say that the banking profession - or parts of it anyway, seem to do nothing but thumb their noses at the fact that times have - or certainly should have - changed.

 I have been involved recently, wearing one of my variety of hats, in a series of structured discussions with bankers in cities around Asia, and somewhat less structured conversations in the Middle East. All were commercial banks. And the discussions have had a thread of similarity attached, in every place; the perception of banks and the people who work in them. I have to say, it is less marked in Asia than it seems to be in Europe particularly. But share prices are affected across the Board and it matters not whether you are a good, clean, unbailed-out bank, you are nevertheless tarred with the same brush as those who have not been so clever.

But there is not much point in complaining, because people won't listen anyway. You actually have to do something for yourselves. Every bank I have spoken to brought up the subject of service. I agree. In a world where banking products are easily copied, and where they cannot be differentiated significantly, your points of competitive advantage revolve around service. A breadth of product offerings sure, as long as you do them well, and deliver them easily, effectively, and efficiently - and talk to your client base to find out how they have changed.

 In Asia as well as in the Middle East, the demographics are different as are the expectations, from region to region and country to country. If you are 55 years old, and running a financial institution where the average age of your clients is 32, do you actually know what they want - or are you giving them what you think they should have, delivered in what they at least would consider to be an old fashioned way?

 If that is what you are doing, it won't help to change the public perception of bankers, who will become more and more depressed and instead of biting off your hand for new business, they will be biting off your ears!

A Traveller's Tale

The highly entertaining Nury Vittachi, columnist, compére, wit and observer of some of the more bizarre things in life used to write a regular column in the Far Eastern Economic Review called Travellers' Tales; having such things in it as the classic and still passed around (with variations) today, of the "Morny, ruin sorbees"* conversation in a Bangkok hotel. Well, apologies, Nury, I sort of plagiarised it for this Blog today, just because it fits my purpose.

If you travel as much as I seem to be doing, you have to expect the odd "difficult" experience at airports and with airlines and with immigration and particularly with security. If you smile at them they think you are acting unnaturally and if you don't smile, you're obviously behaving suspiciously! The law of averages itself would see to it that somewhere down the line you will fall foul of something or someone. But I guess I have either become anesthetised to the problems so I don't notice them, or if it really is something out of my control then any amount of screaming and shouting isn't going to change anything - so I don't.

Having worked all my life (so far, anyway) in the service industry, I am only too well aware of the things that can go wrong, and that the nearest person you want to take it out on often had nothing to do with the problem. Equally, those complaint letters that find their way into the newspapers seem, in many cases, to be about trivial things and if you ever get into the detail, the complainant was quite regularly a contributing factor to the problem - although you can't tell them that! 

So a word in defence of our local airline - Cathay Pacific - who appear with some regularity in the local press but who last week got me off a plane in Hong Kong that was late in from Kuala Lumpur (arrived gate 62) on to the train, through transit and security, and onto a London flight (departing from gate 1) in 18 minutes flat. Now that's service!

 And before you start getting all - "well he flies a lot so they are bound to take care of him" or, "he flies up the front of the aircraft, so of course they look after him" - get back in your seats! Perhaps only the "he flies a lot" would have any weight - none of the rest of it is true. There was another passenger also going for the same London flight. In addition there were three passengers catching a Los Angeles flight who were afforded the same courtesy. 

I had already accepted the fact that the inbound flight was going to be late in arriving, and while on board the crew had made arrangements for me to catch the midnight flight to London. But on arrival at the gate the Cathay staff were there - and having clearly stated there were no guarantees - off we went. But the wider point here is this. It was not just the cooperation of the airline - it was the fact that the transport system at the airport works so well, and that the security services were also willing to help. And I can think of plenty of airports around the world where that just would not happen!!

 So, thank you Cathay and thank you Airport Authority.

And on the subject of travel, I wonder how many of you read and swear by the comments on the web site Trip Advisor.  I must confess, I do go through them from time to time as I had generally thought they were a useful source of background information. But then I recalled some news articles recently about the "unreliability" of the sites. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority raised serious concerns that not all the reports were genuine, and placed some restrictions on the claims being made by Trip Advisor. So not quite as independent as you might think. 

I am a firm believer in reporting and feedback, as long as it is fair and objective. Criticism is fine - it enables action to be taken, but I have just watched a programme about some of the people who go to various establishments to comment - particularly on Trip Advisor, and oh my goodness!

One "critic" put a pencil mark on the bottom corner of a sheet so he could check whether the hotel changed the sheets or not. Other than it being environmentally unfriendly to wash sheets too often - not something he considered, he said the reason he was concerned was because he had a skin condition and needed his sheets changed regularly. Fair enough, perhaps, but did he think he should tell the hotel about this? Oh no. It was up to them to enquire, he said.

He was the same person who reported negatively on hotel service when he was brought a gin and tonic, instead of a gin and lemonade. The drink was changed immediately and with apologies, but no, the later report marked the establishment down for poor service. (Even his Granny, who was with him at the time, thought it was a bit harsh)

He apparently did not get on very well at school, was bullied, was not academically gifted (I can relate to that!) and was not considered to be good at anything much. But as a "critic" he had found something he was really good at!! You can form your own opinions.

 All I have to say on the subject is that if you are planning a trip and Trip Advisor is your sole guide, maybe you should be digging a little broader and deeper.

* Morny, ruin sorbees - Morning, room service!

 

Is It Just Me?

 While the world to our west continues to stumble and shake its way through a wide variety of woes, uncertainties and yes, silliness, there are at least some things happening in Asia that should give us present and future hope. Myanmar for one is high on my list - and here I think the whole world, for once, is holding its breath in unison hoping that nothing will derail the positive changes that have taken place in that country recently.

And although you may see it differently from me, the recent publicity given to the ousting of a highly placed political leader in China is a positive change. A public display of disaffection related to someone of such a high rank would not have been thinkable until fairly recently. Possible links to crime notwithstanding.

Asia continues to mature ... to come of age, with of course the notable exception of North Korea – but that is a completely different story, and perhaps one that has a different ending in store. Watch that space, I suggest.

 Meanwhile the west wobbles.

Job figures in the USA once again, and as commented on ad nauseam in these columns, have not proved to be as robust as had been hoped. It should never be a surprise. But it led once again to the inevitable sell-off in the stock markets. Europe, meanwhile, meanders towards the odd election. In particular President Sarkozy is looking a little healthier after his handling of the outrage in Toulouse, but although gaining on Francois Hollande he is far from being out of the woods. The future for saving the Eurozone if Hollande is elected looks bleak. And Britain's Conservative Government is looking less and less in touch with the people, even though some of the things they are trying to do are possibly sensible - but the way in which they are being introduced is winning no friends.

The media everywhere is still bashing the bankers indiscriminately. Gotta hate someone – and take the heat off yourself!!

And whilst in the West, some oddities and some amazements. 

Like the idiot who jumped into the River Thames during the annual Oxford versus Cambridge boat race, and who could have lost his life as a result, (a wish of his apparently), protesting again elitism. His five minutes of fame (and let's hope the media just ignore him from now on), ruining the hard work and sweat of 18 athletes who have devoted their lives to reaching this achievement. Eloquently stated by Oxford’s rower Will Zeng when he wrote:

 “When I missed your head with my blade, I knew only that you were a swimmer, and if you say you are a protester, then no matter what you say your cause may be, your action speaks too loudly for me to hear you. I know with immediate emotion, exactly what you were protesting. You were protesting the right of 17 young men and one woman to compete fairly and honourably, to demonstrate their hard work and desire in a proud tradition. You were protesting their right to devote years of their lives, their friendships, and their souls to the fair pursuit of the joys and the hardships of sport. You, who would make a mockery of their dedication and their courage, are a mockery of a man.”

Pictures of the grinning Boat Race “protestor” will hopefully be replaced by something less enjoyable to him when he gets jailed without any attendant publicity.

But of course, the “protest” has far wider implications. In an Olympic year in London, how many more people in a misguided, or purely publicity-seeking venture, will try and create disruption to events being contested by hard working, dedicated, single minded and, in many cases poor, representatives from around the world.

 And staying with the oddities theme, I read that the authorities in New York are cracking down on the use of potentially offensive words in school tests. Amongst the words bizarrely (okay, bizarre to me anyway, perhaps not to you) banned by the city’s Department of Education are “dinosaurs”, which might offend creationists; “birthdays”, as Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate them; and “homes with swimming pools”, because not everyone has one. Quite!

Oh dear! Whatever next, or is it just me that thinks the world has gone mad!!

Earth Hour - Beijing Gets With The Programme

It's Earth Hour on 31 March 2012, and it's just gone 8:30pm. The lights have gone out, so it is a romantic candle lit dinner for one in a Beijing restaurant. (Not a problem; I enjoy my own company!) But Beijing ... a city where the many critics of China will naturally assume they wouldn't pay the slightest attention to the idea of conserving energy. But oh no! Think again. There is hardly a light in sight other than candles and my unfriendly iPad - or none that I can see anyway - although in an attempt to keep the food cooked there is some oven light. And interestingly, the noise level has dropped. The traditionally raucous restaurant has conversations taking place in hushed undertones.

I am pleasantly surprised, and wonder what other cities are doing - both in China and outside. And what this exercise,this global initiative, well-meaning as it may be, is actually achieving. An increased level of awareness about energy conservation? Maybe. A permanent change in behaviour? Probably not. At least not yet!

In the West - yes, maybe there is a greater awareness of the  damage that the lack of environmental control can bring - although I still see little evidence of it being practiced in some places, unless we run events like this on a regular basis as a reminder.

It is a little like people going on a diet and once they have lost the weight they wanted to, then saying to themselves that they have achieved their objectives, and going back to their previous eating habits. The lights switched off tonight - most especially in homes and in empty office buildings, will undoubtedly be on again tomorrow night.

China has pollution problems, as does Hong Kong (semantics - I KNOW it is a part of China), but I am also increasingly convinced that they are becoming more and more aware of the problems. Taking the whole issue seriously, and believing that "education" is part of the solution to the problem.

Certainly tonight, in my part of Beijing anyway, the hour has been fully embraced, and I mean fully - although now the lighting has returned to normal I guess I might have avoided those foods splashes on my shirt if I could have seen what I was doing - but then again, maybe not!

I hope the laundry process, especially the stain remover, is environmentally friendly!!