The dastardly Mr Deedes

Bank of England governor Mark Carney, 52, made a speech on Monday which took a swipe at his predecessor lord King. He criticised ‘moral hazard fundamentalists’ during the banking crisis, that is economists such as Merv who felt bailing out institutions would only encourage further risk-taking in the future. Carney’s speeches usually lack punch, so who’s put lead in his pencil? little known Bank of England associate Jenni Nemeth, 31, apparently deserves a scintilla of credit. HSBC’s results yesterday revealed former chairman Douglas Flint, 62, who left his £ 2.1m- a- year post in September, continued to be paid until the end of the company’s financial year. Meaning he’s trousered just shy of £560,000 since January without doing a single day’s work. The bank will also pick up Flint’s health insurance bill for the next seven years. Banks deride Jeremy Corbyn’s loopy plans to curtail them. But is it possible they hand him too much ammo? Ex-Deutsche Bank trader Chris Babu, 41, who ran the bank’s mortgage bond division until 2016, next week releases his debut novel, the Initiation. It’s set in a bleak dystopian future ‘where no one is safe’. sounds spookily similar to loss-making Deutsche’s trading floor, where another 500 lay-offs were announced yesterday. Santander’s executive chairman Ana Botin, who pocketed £9.3m last year, has informed shareholders the banking group is a ‘combination of reliable ocean liners and agile boats’. Hardly a description being levelled at her tetchy UK chief, Nathan Bostock, 57, who’s revealed to have overseen Royal Bank of Scotland’s odious Global Restructuring Group. High time ever-fragrant Senora Botin, 57, torpedoed the SS Bostock forthwith. Virgin tycoon sir Richard Branson this week surprised his son sam, 32, and daughter-in-law Isabella, 37, who are relaxing in Bali. He arrived unannounced where they’re staying, hidden inside a cardboard box. Beardie, 67, says they ‘shrieked with delight’ when he emerged from the unmarked package. Is he sure it was delight?