Were there many fundamental clashes between the Charcol and Bradford & Bingley cultures?
The initial integration of cultures was actually between Charcolonline and Charcol. Previously to the acquisition of the Charcol group by Bradford & Bingley, I headed up Charcolonline as a separate entity, and one with a very different culture from that of Charcol. Charcolonline was very buzzy and ‘dotcom’, focused entirely on entrepreneurship and building the business, whereas Charcol was more mature. So the first challenge was to make Charcol one integrated group. That was probably more of a challenge than the Bradford & Bingley acquisition. When we joined with Bradford & Bingley, we were very much encouraged to preserve our own culture, so more than anything I focused on dissipating any sense of ‘them and us’. How did you assert your own credibility as a leader upon joining the Bradford & Bingley Executive Committee? Whenever you are sitting round a ‘top table’ it is obviously crucial that you pull your weight – or you will either get ignored or taken off that top table! You achieve
Related Questions
- If the branch network and retail deposit business of Bradford & Bingley was transferred to Abbey (now Santander) for a financial consideration, why wasn this distributed among shareholders?
- Why did RBS and HBOS receive emergency assistance from the Bank of England and not Bradford & Bingley?
- Why wasn Bradford & Bingley sold or merged with another company prior to transfer?
