The dastardly Mr Deedes
■ Following Tesco Bank’s £16m fine by the Financial Conduct Authority after its 2016 cyber-attack, whither the man in charge at the time, scarlet-maned Benny Higgins? Wolfish Benny, 58, who would never be accused of wearing his intellect lightly, appears to have reinvented himself as a leather-elbowed academic. He now lectures in accountancy at Strathclyde Business School and calls himself Professor Benny Higgins.
■ JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon hints his successor could well be female, remarking: ‘We have fabulous people, and several are women, and several people who report to me can have this job one day.’ Some are tipping the bank’s British finance chief Marianne Lake, though there are concerns she might frighten stuffy Wall Street types. Strawberry blonde Marianne, 49, is a single mother-of-three and, unlike many of her abstemious colleagues, enjoys a tipple or two.
■ JCB heir George Bamford’s wife Leonora says of her dapper hubby: ‘He is always immaculate whether in a tracksuit or a beautiful suit. And he likes to go commando, which saves me on the washing.’ Too much information!
■ General Electric’s dismissal of boss John Flannery yesterday after barely a year in post is another stark reminder of the conglomerate’s rapid decline over the years. Once the world’s most valuable company worth $400bn with interests spanning energy, media and finance, its value has almost quartered since then. These days it’s worth less than Netflix.
■ Is Bank of America struggling to persuade London staff to move to Paris post-Brexit? They’ve issued a leaflet highlighting the city’s attractions, which include ‘museums, famous chefs and restaurants and some of the best wine regions in the world’.
■ Eco-bore Al Gore is talked up as a chairman for Tesla to keep an eye on erratic boss Elon Musk, who’s been ticked off for making misleading statements about the firm. But the former Presidential candidate is also prone to making dodgy public pronouncements. He once told a Time magazine journalist he and ex-wife Tipper were the inspiration for the couple in weepy 1970 novel Love Story, much to author Erich Segal’s bewilderment.