Mix telephone evangelism with telephone banking and you have... Bank of Scotland's latest direct banking venture. The bank already has a UK operation in partnership with a supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, but it has chosen a more controversial partner for the US in the form of Marion "Pat" Robertson.
Robertson is a controversial figure in the US because of his antics as a TV evangelist. His outspoken views have led Action for Churches Together in Scotland (Acts), which represents most of the country's churches, to criticize the Scottish bank for taking him on as a partner.
The evangelist has a long history as a successful businessman in the US, with interests in media, chemicals and diamonds. He also founded the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960, a TV network that now boasts 55 million viewers. He ran for US president in 1988.
Robertson is perhaps best known for his remarks as a member of the Christian Coalition. One gem in a 1992 fundraising letter: "The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
Another, from a 1991 TV show: "I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them." Or the Bank of Scotland's churchgoing clients, perhaps? Jack Dyson