Flemings: The search for a strategy

Privately owned UK bank Robert Fleming has had an awful year. In January, there were allegations of insider dealing. In June Bill Harrison, its head of investment banking, resigned. In August, there was an asset-management scandal at Jardine Fleming that led to the resignation of the Hong Kong-based investment bank’s chairman, Alan Smith. No wonder John Manser, Flemings’ previously unruffled chief executive, is beginning to look rather frazzled. Last month, shortly after announcing a management shake-up in the wake of the Hong Kong irregularities, he warned that the 120-year old bank might be forced to move out of London to avoid overzealous regulators.