Managers of yore had little to bank on

Much interest, no doubt, in the financial services sector in David Went's decision to reveal that he received £390,000 in remuneration last year. How things have changed. Irish Life & Permanent has been linked in gossip around town with Ulster Bank for some time. But The Ulster Bank Story, published this week, shows that the bank was founded in different times. A bank manager appointed shortly after the bank's foundation in 1836 at Comber, Co Down, was given a salary of £100, £10 for rent and £30 for a clerk, with a proviso that should the business be discontinued within two years he would be required to repay half the expenses of the office. The book records that the venture was unsuccessful and repeated requests did not elicit the finalised books until one morning a cart drew up in Warring Street, opposite the head office of the bank, on which was a small safe and the books of the branch. The manager, who had accompanied the cart from Comber, walked into the directors' room, threw down a bunch of keys saying "There's your bank" and departed. The annual report is not believed to have revealed any golden handshake.