The Virgin Banker by Jayne-Anne Gadhia

Author:Jayne-Anne Gadhia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

An EBO Business

In January 2008, with the Northern Rock crisis in full flow, Richard Branson was invited, along with a plane-full of other UK businesspeople, to accompany the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on a trip to China.

Take-off was delayed as a result of a BA Boeing 777 crash-landing just over the perimeter fence at Heathrow, so both the plane and the airport were full of journalists.

At the same time, all parties who were interested in the Northern Rock deal were awaiting a term sheet to come through from the government’s advisors, Goldman Sachs. A term sheet is an initial document that outlines the terms and conditions of a business agreement. It was important to this deal as it would include details of the conditions of government and Bank of England support, which would be essential to help the new business to get off the ground.

I was at home in Edinburgh, watching the TV news, when a story came up about Richard Branson, the PM and the Northern Rock deal. The speculation was that Gordon Brown and Richard Branson were agreeing a ‘sweetheart deal’ for Northern Rock while on the plane from China.

Despite all of the headlines and the conspiracy theories, there wasn’t any truth in the accusation and there was nothing at all ‘sweetheart’ about that period.

Indeed, the thing that I remember well is that, throughout more than six months of working almost twenty-four hours a day on the Northern Rock crisis and seeing regulators, civil servants and politicians on a regular basis, I never came across anyone – however powerful and mighty – who wanted to do anything other than their best to solve the problem, save the bank, support the Northern Rock staff and customers, and to help the country. I was surprised by that, but encouraged too. I came across professionalism, intellect and integrity, but those qualities rarely get an airing in the media.

As we worked hard to try and find a solution to the Northern Rock problem, I was spending time in London with Sir Brian. He always wanted to walk to every meeting if he possibly could, and I walked with him. It gave us time to talk and I loved hearing the stories of his life, his experiences and the people he had met.

He was a bit critical of the way the government were trying to solve this crisis. In his day, he said, bankers were called in to Downing Street, the doors were locked and no one was allowed out until the problem was solved.

He recalled one such meeting, convened by Norman Lamont, as Chancellor, one Christmas Eve. Brian remembered that the bankers all turned up ‘in slacks and turtleneck jumpers’ and couldn’t wait to get home to their families for the festive season. That was the quickest solution to a banking crisis anywhere.

The crisis in Mexico took a few days longer to resolve.

One day, Brian received a call inviting him to Washington, with other world bankers, to try and find a solution to the Mexican financial crisis while Ronald Reagan was President.

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