wallydownundy

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has already received a significant injection of taxpayer-funds in the first tranche of emergency government lending late last year. This past weekend The Sunday Herald in Scotland writes that RBS is likely to receive much, much more (”RBS will get ‘billions’ in US bail-out of economy” by Ian Fraser). In Sydney RBS now has a prominent facade as the old ABN-AMRO Tower has been renamed the RBS Building-Tower-Shining Edifice.

So with a big building - and a bigger bail-out - I was keen to learn more when I saw RBS sponsoring a large display in Sydney’s Martin Place.

It was odd to see such a large - bubble - with the RBS logo so prominently displayed. I figured inside would be the legendary “toxic assets” that were the root cause of this global strife. I imagined bio-hazard engineers mopping up collateralised debt obligations and other nasties.

Instead RBS had a sports car that simulated a real “on track” experience. Brochures invite participants to:

Take the Challenge

Using a full size formula 1 show car with a driving simulator, you can test your instincts, nerve and reactions to set the fastest lap (source: The Sydney Challenge hand-out from RBS Martin Place display)

Now people have accused me of being cynical - and I agree. I have been a little biased in past posts. And at first I was horrified. Last year RBS accepted US$30 billion in government funding to continue operations (according to CNN). Today it is in line to receive tens of billions of dollars more. And in Australia, RBS has no retail banking operations. So the RBS Bubble is to keep the brand front of mind with corporations and other banks.

Then the penny dropped. Of course it makes perfect sense. RBS needs its customers to have all the reflexes of a professional race car driver if they are to survive the harrowing twists and turns in the coming months.

Who says the RBS display in the centre of Martin Place is a waste of tens of thousands of dollars?