One of its senior staff tells me that he has had continual problems with his phone, although I think that he may be using that as an excuse for never returning my calls. Then this week, the bank’s traders were all left in the dark when the lights suddenly went out in its Bishopsgate dealing room. Cue inevitable jokes about being treated like mushrooms and whether or not RBS had paid its electricity bill. A far simpler explanation was ultimately forthcoming – it was the kind of standard power cut that affects third-world economies that have failed to invest in their infrastructure.