Episode 60

Episode 60

Download Subtitles

Transcript

:00:05. > :00:15.Tehran. I will be back at 10.00. Now it is

:00:15. > :00:26.

:00:26. > :00:29.time for Show Me The Money with This is Show Me The Money, your

:00:29. > :00:32.weekly guide to who's making the cash, how they're doing it, and

:00:32. > :00:35.what it means for the way we work. With us tonight:

:00:35. > :00:39.From jet engines and light bulbs to credit cards and health care. Is

:00:39. > :00:42.there anything GE doesn't do? We'll ask its man in the UK, Mark Elborne.

:00:42. > :00:44.Alastair Lukies got us all doing our banking on our phones with his

:00:44. > :00:49.company Monetise. And Allyson Stewart-Allan is the

:00:49. > :00:52.queen of marketing at International Marketing Partners.

:00:52. > :00:55.If you got a �1 million bonus, would you hand it back? The boss of

:00:55. > :00:59.NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, is facing

:00:59. > :01:02.even more pressure tonight to give his massive bonus back. Government

:01:02. > :01:06.ministers - who didn't block the bonus - said they'd like him to

:01:06. > :01:09.return it. And tonight the Labour Party says

:01:10. > :01:17.it will force a debate in the House of Commons and demand that he is

:01:17. > :01:23.stripped of his bonus. Mark Elborne, are you paid a bonus? I will

:01:23. > :01:26.receive a bonus at the discretion of the board if they believe I have

:01:26. > :01:30.done more than I'm required to do the help the business grow and the

:01:30. > :01:35.company improve going forward. than you are required to do?

:01:35. > :01:38.Correct. Who defines whether you have or not? My boss. We are

:01:38. > :01:41.currently going through an appraisal process where every

:01:41. > :01:47.employee's performance is looked at against the goals that were set a

:01:47. > :01:50.year ago. Ultimately, that process goes to our board in the US who

:01:50. > :01:56.makes decisions for the top executives of the company. The key

:01:56. > :01:59.phrase was "at the discretion of the board". That is a key phrase in

:02:00. > :02:04.RBS as well because the Labour Party says that that is the clause

:02:05. > :02:07.that determines his bonus as well? This is the entitlement to the

:02:07. > :02:12.bonus at the discretion of the board, though not the amount of the

:02:12. > :02:15.bonus. We don't have an entitlement to a bonus. It is at the discretion

:02:15. > :02:19.of the board as to whether one should be paid and if so, how much

:02:19. > :02:22.it should be. That is where we stand. Having that phrase just on

:02:22. > :02:26.its own doesn't necessarily mean it's decided on a year-to-year

:02:26. > :02:32.basis, it depends on the magic words that are around that phrase -

:02:32. > :02:37.at the discretion of the board? discretion, if it is a contractual

:02:37. > :02:45.entitlement, the discretion is only as to the amount. What triggers

:02:45. > :02:49.your bonus? There are some triggers we have in a long-term plan for

:02:49. > :02:53.senior executives around earnings per share, cash from operations,

:02:53. > :02:58.one of them is about the size of the balance sheet. That is exactly

:02:58. > :03:01.the same set of metrics that determine the entitlement of every

:03:01. > :03:05.single person in the plan - it could be up to 4,000 people.

:03:05. > :03:09.Everybody either wins or loses, benefit or doesn't benefit by the

:03:09. > :03:13.performance of the company. So we are all in it together. When you

:03:13. > :03:17.see the type of attack that Stephen Hester has been under from the

:03:17. > :03:20.media over the last week, what do you think? Do you feel sorry for

:03:20. > :03:25.him? I think he is in a very difficult position. He must have

:03:25. > :03:28.realised he was taking on a very difficult job. I think that there's

:03:28. > :03:34.the political side of this, which is obviously what is getting the

:03:34. > :03:38.attention. He has a job to do, a contract that he signed. He clearly

:03:38. > :03:43.has performance requirements from the board and it is a question of

:03:43. > :03:49.whether he does or does not perform now. I think it is a difficult

:03:49. > :03:53.debate. It is one that has become a bit too politicised but from a

:03:53. > :03:56.businessman's perspective, it is a question of what his contract says,

:03:56. > :04:02.what is his entitlement, has he performed, is the business

:04:02. > :04:08.improving, has the balance sheet adjusted itself? Alastair Lukies,

:04:08. > :04:11.do you think he deserves the money? This has become such a big issue

:04:11. > :04:16.now, it feels like a witch-hunt than a discussion about bonuses. At

:04:16. > :04:19.the end of the day, what we all want and Stephen Hester and the

:04:19. > :04:23.Government would agree is a stable finance services industry. It is

:04:23. > :04:27.something the UK has become famous for. As an entrepreneur, until we

:04:27. > :04:30.have that sort of environment, we won't see more companies setting up,

:04:30. > :04:34.raising capital, being able to borrow money and grow businesses

:04:34. > :04:41.and we have all agreed over the last few years that that is where

:04:41. > :04:44.the new jobs will come from. Allyson, Mark mentioned a culture

:04:44. > :04:48.of entitlement. That is what the banks are accused of. They think

:04:48. > :04:53.they are going to get that bonus at the end of every year irrespective

:04:53. > :05:00.of what happens? Yes. What is very interesting about this topic, and

:05:00. > :05:04.especially right now, is how contextual bonuses are. He might be

:05:04. > :05:09.one of the only people for the job, Stephen Hester. He is not the only

:05:09. > :05:14.person for the job. I think one of the things that is interesting is,

:05:14. > :05:18.from a corporate diplomacy point of view, what do people think of the

:05:18. > :05:24.brand of RBS when the Executive is potentially taking a bonus in a

:05:24. > :05:29.climate that we are in, regardless of the contract? You think this

:05:29. > :05:33.might damage the brand of the bank if he holds on to it? I believe it

:05:33. > :05:38.would. I would be surprised if their market research isn't already

:05:38. > :05:42.showing more distrust in that bank in particular than if he actually

:05:43. > :05:46.takes the bonus. Does that have a material effect on the business?

:05:46. > :05:54.customers don't trust the brand as much, of course it does. People

:05:54. > :05:57.will leave. Alastair? Bank is also a problem in itself. Consumers look

:05:57. > :06:02.to their bank for reliance when it comes to their current account,

:06:02. > :06:06.when it comes to their credit card. A lot of the banking behaviour that

:06:06. > :06:09.people have gone after is on the investment banking side. I think a

:06:09. > :06:13.lot of people associate with their bank on the High Street as a retail

:06:13. > :06:16.bank brand. That is a separate thing. Thank you very much.

:06:17. > :06:20.Time for Boom or Bust, our quick flick through some of the news you

:06:20. > :06:26.hoped you'd missed this week. OK - spot the mistake time. In my

:06:26. > :06:33.school days it was spelt S-C-H-O-O- L. The sign outside this New York

:06:33. > :06:36.school is trying to be too cool for school - spelt S-H-C-O-O-L. It was

:06:36. > :06:41.in place for nearly two years before anyone noticed.

:06:41. > :06:44.Windfall bonuses. They're not just for bankers. An unemployed man in

:06:44. > :06:47.Greenland found a million Krona in his account, because of a bank

:06:47. > :06:51.mistake. He gave the money away to the homeless. But now the courts

:06:51. > :06:54.have ordered him to pay it back. He claimed he thought he'd won the

:06:54. > :06:57.lottery. To Bolivia - for this yearly event.

:06:57. > :07:00.The idea is you buy a miniature version of something you want. You

:07:00. > :07:03.get it blessed. And the real thing turns up at some point over the

:07:03. > :07:09.next year. Mini items on sale include mobile phones, cars,

:07:09. > :07:19.university diplomas and even figures of domestic workers. I'd

:07:19. > :07:20.

:07:20. > :07:30.quite like a mini crate of Blue Nun, please. Mark, the misspelling of

:07:30. > :07:33."school" on the road outside the school? I despair! LAUGHTER Is it a

:07:33. > :07:36.metaphor for the state of education? I think it is the fact

:07:36. > :07:46.that there are so many tools around that people can use that they don't

:07:46. > :07:49.sit and learn spelling by wrote. My frustration is not just spelling,

:07:49. > :07:54.but punctuation is even worse, maybe because I was once a lawyer,

:07:54. > :07:57.I get a bit precise about this. I do despair at what I do see in some

:07:57. > :08:07.documents and in newspapers, adverts and things like that. That

:08:07. > :08:13.

:08:13. > :08:21.is a horror. We are fellow souls! The apostrophe counts! Have you

:08:21. > :08:26.come across anyone who didn't get a job because they didn't use correct

:08:26. > :08:30.punctuation? No. If you have a mobile phone, a laptop, an iPad,

:08:30. > :08:35.it's automatically trying to help you correct stuff. People don't

:08:35. > :08:44.bother. It is like abbreviated conversation on text. It becomes

:08:44. > :08:48.normal language. What are you like with apostrophes? I'm still

:08:48. > :08:54.learning British English! Is there a problem with levels of education

:08:54. > :08:58.or attainment in the use of language? Or is it just us oldies

:08:58. > :09:08.that say the kids speak somewhat differently? I think there is a

:09:08. > :09:08.

:09:08. > :09:12.decline in written English. I have seen many CVs with typos and wrong

:09:12. > :09:16.punctuation, semi-colons instead of colons. It does make you wonder if

:09:16. > :09:22.a lot of the job is going to require writing to your clients or

:09:22. > :09:26.customers, then you are going to think twice about it. Alastair, the

:09:26. > :09:30.Greenland windfall, the court says he has to pay the money back. If

:09:30. > :09:34.you had found a million Krona in your bank account, in your mobile

:09:34. > :09:41.phone bank account, what would you have done with it? I would have

:09:41. > :09:46.found out quite quickly because I have mobile banking! Thank you!

:09:46. > :09:50.think that there was a part to that story that is a theme we are

:09:50. > :09:54.feeling more in society today, the fact he gave the money away to the

:09:54. > :09:58.homeless. What the financial crisis has proven is that people in a

:09:58. > :10:03.crisis behave in their best way. Lots of people, more people are

:10:03. > :10:08.giving money to these causes than ever before. He probably will have

:10:08. > :10:14.to pay the money back. The fact he was inclined to give it away is

:10:14. > :10:17.probably a good news story. What price honesty? Absolutely. If you

:10:17. > :10:22.assume most people are honest, that is a safe assumption. Sometimes

:10:22. > :10:25.businesses, you can tell from their cultures, they aren't really

:10:25. > :10:29.assuming people are honest and you have to trust them. A quick thought

:10:29. > :10:34.from each of you. If you were to buy the small gift of the thing you

:10:34. > :10:40.wanted in the coming year, what would it be? It would have to be an

:10:40. > :10:48.emerald. A small emerald. A small emerald. No limit on the size?

:10:48. > :10:54.Small gift for the year? The Rugby World Cup. To give to Ireland?

:10:54. > :11:03.course. Small gift you would like? I need a miniature ost path who can

:11:03. > :11:07.fix my back when -- osteopath who can fix my back when it gets sore.

:11:07. > :11:14.You sponsor the Olympics. Why do you do it? We started initially

:11:14. > :11:21.because of our ownership of NBC that had the US network rights and

:11:21. > :11:25.we began to see this was a channel for an event around the world. When

:11:25. > :11:29.GE became a global sponsor in 2006, we realised if you want to promote

:11:29. > :11:33.your brand and stand for certain values, like we do around our

:11:33. > :11:37.healthcare business and energy, that event and the audience you get

:11:37. > :11:42.to and the ability to create a legacy, there is no better event to

:11:42. > :11:48.do it with. As we have progressed through our sponsorships, for

:11:48. > :11:53.London, what we will leave behind apart from the technology and the

:11:53. > :11:57.venues is the equipment we gave to the hospital, relighting Tower

:11:57. > :12:01.Bridge. Part of the legacy, it has to be more than just an event. It

:12:01. > :12:04.has to create a sustainable long- term path that will help broader

:12:04. > :12:08.investment across this city. talk a lot about the economic

:12:08. > :12:12.impact of the Olympics. People think that is merchandising. You

:12:12. > :12:16.think it goes much deeper than that. It is not just the regeneration of

:12:16. > :12:20.that part of London, it is the whole technological improvement

:12:20. > :12:25.across business that happened when we got ready for the Games? Yes. I

:12:26. > :12:29.think the fact that the bid was won based upon the desire and I think

:12:29. > :12:36.we will see that the demonstration that this is the most sustainable

:12:36. > :12:40.Games ever held, it shows an intent to experiment to find ways to power

:12:40. > :12:45.the Games, the move people around, what we are doing around how we are

:12:45. > :12:48.working with athletes and the horses, too, on areas of health,

:12:48. > :12:52.it's a means of inspiring people to think a little bit more further

:12:52. > :12:57.into the future and the beauty of the Games is it is an event, it has

:12:57. > :13:01.a big one, it has a very large budget, and it gives all of those

:13:01. > :13:04.who are participating, all the sponsors, a chance to showcase

:13:04. > :13:08.something that they think is the way we are going to be in the next

:13:08. > :13:11.decade or so. Does it give a short- term boost to the economy as well?

:13:12. > :13:15.We need something like that. It is bound to give a short-term boost to

:13:15. > :13:21.the economy. It has been a very welcome boost through a very

:13:21. > :13:26.difficult three years. A very large investment has gone into all the

:13:26. > :13:29.venues, �9 billion or �10 billion. What is also nice is the big

:13:29. > :13:32.investment post-Games, they will turn the Olympic Village into

:13:32. > :13:36.sustainable homes. There is a plan to develop a lot of the area around

:13:36. > :13:39.the venues into a modern, vibrant area for people to live, shop and

:13:39. > :13:45.work. People said the same thing about the Royal Wedding. It would

:13:45. > :13:49.be great for tourism, then six months later, it depressed economic

:13:49. > :13:52.activity? The Royal Wedding was a wonderful event on one day. Once it

:13:52. > :13:59.had gone, it had gone. There's three weeks of the main Games,

:13:59. > :14:03.there is a break, we have two weeks of the Paralympic Games and it's

:14:03. > :14:07.been five years in the construction. And the important part is there

:14:07. > :14:13.will be two more years of continuing construction afterwards

:14:13. > :14:23.and then all of the benefits that will be provided by the investment

:14:23. > :14:24.

:14:24. > :14:29.that's gone in. It will be a real What does Britain making the modern

:14:29. > :14:33.world? You do a lot of high-tech things for today. We do a lot of

:14:33. > :14:38.high-tech stuff, and we have 40 websites exporting them. So the

:14:38. > :14:43.idea that British manufacturing is dead is a myth? Certainly in the

:14:43. > :14:48.area we manufacture in. The manufacturing sector is pretty

:14:48. > :14:52.vibrant. We had a piece of research, before the new year showing that 70

:14:52. > :14:58.% of the hi-tech manufacturers we surveyed, about to London 50,

:14:58. > :15:04.thought their businesses would grow more than 10 % in 2012, about 250.

:15:04. > :15:09.The overall economy is clearly is struggling. The Eurozone, the

:15:09. > :15:14.difficulty in demand, consumers struggling, that will be bad. I

:15:14. > :15:18.think sentiment has had a big effect. We are beginning to see a

:15:19. > :15:22.little softness through some of our manufacturing businesses. One of my

:15:22. > :15:26.colleagues told me that there had been a little softening of demand.

:15:26. > :15:31.I think there will be a poor first quarter compared to what we

:15:31. > :15:35.expected in a difficult economy but I think Britain can manufacture

:15:35. > :15:41.good stuff and we have good innovators and strong universities.

:15:41. > :15:44.We have a government that has a strong commitment to high-tech

:15:45. > :15:48.manufacturing and growing exports, so we are in a good position to

:15:48. > :15:53.accelerate out of this by the end of the year. But what we talk about

:15:53. > :15:57.rebalancing the economy, which is code for fewer bankers and more

:15:57. > :16:04.ingenious and people making things, we are not talking about a return

:16:04. > :16:09.to mass employment in manufacturing. It will still employ fewer people

:16:09. > :16:15.than it once did. Look at the motor car industry. That was a business

:16:15. > :16:22.that was consigned to history years ago but now we have a resurgent

:16:22. > :16:26.motor car industry following an investment by one of the second or

:16:26. > :16:29.third largest money factories in the country. Investment into our

:16:30. > :16:39.manufacturing sector, if we can make people -- products that people

:16:39. > :16:49.want, hence the export market, no reason why we should grow that.

:16:49. > :16:52.

:16:52. > :16:57.these tough times Davos in Switzerland should be the place for

:16:57. > :17:03.the European think tankers. Alastair, you went to Davos, so why

:17:03. > :17:10.did you go? Certainly not to see Robert Peston in a hat. It is the

:17:10. > :17:13.third time I have been. I get a lot out of it. You would have to do a

:17:13. > :17:18.lot of air miles to see all those people in a business perspective

:17:18. > :17:26.because you have thousands of world leaders there. We are also involved

:17:26. > :17:29.in the World economic Forum. Money has a huge impact. Barely 2.2

:17:29. > :17:33.billion bank accounts, so lots of people can benefit from our

:17:33. > :17:38.technology. Sir it was a concentrated burst of people that

:17:38. > :17:42.you wanted to do business with all have that face-to-face time to talk

:17:42. > :17:48.about developing your business? would say that is 75 % of it but

:17:48. > :17:51.there is also brand recognition. The UK, as you have been talking to

:17:52. > :17:55.Mark about how some of the best inventors and engineers and

:17:55. > :17:58.manufacturers in the world. We have not historically always done the

:17:58. > :18:01.best job of telling people about it. I think the government are doing a

:18:01. > :18:04.great job on one of the great things for me this year was that a

:18:05. > :18:09.lot of people said the UK is a good place to do business and are you

:18:09. > :18:16.still open for business, and the answer is yes. This is an important

:18:16. > :18:22.signal for a small company. For a company of Alastair's size to send

:18:22. > :18:25.someone there that means they think globally. Yeah, and you have to

:18:25. > :18:29.planet in from the start. You have to build the Net works globally and

:18:29. > :18:33.you cannot think you can grow the business domestically, but is

:18:33. > :18:36.especially in the technology sector demand is global and the

:18:37. > :18:41.applications are global so you have to make assumptions from the outset

:18:41. > :18:45.that your brand can trouble effectively. That has to do with

:18:45. > :18:49.language, culture and standing -- travel effectively. You need a

:18:50. > :18:55.website with multiple languages. You have to negotiate across

:18:55. > :19:01.cultures which is important. If you turn up at a big global event like

:19:01. > :19:04.this and you are seen hobnobbing in people taking more seriously?

:19:04. > :19:09.is the halo effect. You must be here because you are important,

:19:09. > :19:13.because the other people here are, so maybe I should talk to you.

:19:13. > :19:20.think that sums up the business. This year, finally, an official

:19:20. > :19:23.event took place to show Britain selling itself and the global

:19:23. > :19:29.market, something that India have been doing in Davos for years. We

:19:29. > :19:34.have finally got in on the act. I think the UK is getting more

:19:34. > :19:36.sophisticated in Laureen inward investment and promoting maybe a

:19:36. > :19:42.bit more proactive lead the many fantastic things that this country

:19:42. > :19:45.does. It makes great things. It offers fantastic services and I

:19:45. > :19:50.think it has been a secret for a long time. Maybe they are just

:19:50. > :19:56.cottony not to marketing in a bit more of a methodical way. -- cotton

:19:56. > :20:00.in on. The event was in fact some sort of Tea Party. Is that really

:20:00. > :20:04.the best thing we can see about ourselves? It seemed to go down

:20:04. > :20:08.well there. Everyone else was doing big things and sometimes in Davos

:20:08. > :20:12.it is the biggest or better thing. I thought it was quite English and

:20:12. > :20:17.appropriately English. Next week there is talk of Facebook heading

:20:17. > :20:21.down the direction of eight $100 billion float. The UK has to

:20:21. > :20:26.produce the sort of organisations from the ground up, and one of the

:20:26. > :20:35.key themes was do not think small, think big. There is a lot of tea in

:20:35. > :20:38.the world. How would you like to own a business that means you don't

:20:38. > :20:47.have to pay any tax whatsoever? At all. Here's tax exile wannabe,

:20:47. > :20:51.Think of a tax haven and you probably think of something like

:20:51. > :21:01.this, Monaco, where the wealthy take advantage of stunning scenery,

:21:01. > :21:02.

:21:02. > :21:07.luxury lifestyles and those This might be a long way from the

:21:07. > :21:13.Riviera but it has its own attractions, not just that you used

:21:13. > :21:21.by - of the views of the River Wye. Back in 7096 an act of parliament

:21:21. > :21:26.said that the bridge could not beat used for revenue, meaning the

:21:26. > :21:36.owners cannot have stamp duty, income tax, capital gains, nothing.

:21:36. > :21:37.

:21:37. > :21:40.Thank you. I love it. It's a fantastic place to live. When it

:21:40. > :21:45.was put up for sale, this man thought it was too good a chance to

:21:45. > :21:50.miss. We wanted to move to the seaside and take life a little

:21:50. > :21:54.easier. So you did Enda by water after all. Yes, but not the route

:21:54. > :21:58.we expected. We saw an article in the newspaper about the bridge

:21:58. > :22:02.eight months ago and it has taken us that long to formally move in.

:22:02. > :22:06.They paid about �400,000 and for that they got the Grade Two listed

:22:07. > :22:16.bridge, a cottage, just over an acre of land, and most importantly,

:22:17. > :22:18.

:22:18. > :22:22.It costs 80p to be able to cross the bridge is made times as you

:22:22. > :22:29.want in one day which is expected to rake in up to �2,000 per week in

:22:29. > :22:35.the busy summer tide, especially because it is considered bad to

:22:35. > :22:43.avoid the toll. It takes about nine miles to drive to the nearest

:22:43. > :22:47.bridge, cross for free and get back to the same point across the river.

:22:47. > :22:55.What do you think about the toll bridge? If it is fantastic.

:22:55. > :23:01.saves a good bit of mileage. It is good. Quite expensive though, ATP.

:23:01. > :23:04.It doesn't sound much but if you go over regularly it is expensive.

:23:04. > :23:08.everything was tax free, you would make a bigger profit than if it

:23:08. > :23:18.wasn't. The fact you don't have to pay tax and there is no stamp duty,

:23:18. > :23:19.

:23:19. > :23:23.So what are the costs of running the place? We have to have it

:23:23. > :23:28.insured which is �12,000 per year and we pay maintenance which we

:23:28. > :23:33.estimate that about �15,000 to keep the bridge in top order. By my

:23:33. > :23:37.maths, even with the �27,000 going out every year, I reckon that would

:23:37. > :23:41.give you about 40 p of the told straight into your pocket. It might

:23:41. > :23:46.appear like that, but we do have additional costs of managing the

:23:46. > :23:51.land and we have staff costs were it is busy. A what you have to do

:23:51. > :23:55.to earn the money? Keep the bridge operating. It is partly automated

:23:55. > :23:58.the we need someone on site if there is a power cut. And in the

:23:58. > :24:04.summer months we have at somebody manning it all day long. The big

:24:04. > :24:06.holidays for you them. I am afraid not. If you are kicking yourself

:24:06. > :24:09.about missing out on the opportunity it is still worth

:24:09. > :24:14.thinking about investing in infrastructure. Trust funds

:24:14. > :24:19.focusing on tolls, airports and railway scampering in returns of up

:24:19. > :24:25.to 6% which means a lot of banks saving rates. -- beats a lot of

:24:25. > :24:30.rates. Next week, p YJ a bow, he doesn't like us mentioning the