Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Won’t someone please unleash the challenger banks?

Plus: Why Rona Fairhead should leave HSBC (but stay at the Beeb); and a charming alternative to automation at Bond Street station

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In my Yorkshire town of Helmsley the NatWest branch, originally an outpost of Beckett & Co of Leeds, has closed down — collateral damage of its crippled parent RBS’s continuing struggle for viability. Our branch of the Australian-owned Yorkshire Bank, descendant of the West Riding Penny Savings institution, became an antique shop some time ago.

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