CorpComms Magazine

Shane O'Riordain, director of corporate communications at HBOS, the beleaguered financial institution, has emerged as the best-regarded communications professional at a British high street bank, according to an exclusive survey of banking journalists conducted by CorpComms Magazine in association with Echo Research, the media evaluation firm.

The findings come just weeks after HBOS was forced into a £12.5 billion merger with Lloyds TSB, its smaller rival, after concerns about its financial position swept the markets.

O'Riordain, who formerly worked at merchant bank Flemings, was the only communications professional in the banking sector singled out for praise.

One senior banking journalist said: 'HBOS are the best UK bank at media communications simply because they have the best PR man in Shane O'Riordain.'

Another correspondent added: 'Shane is the best PR guy in Britain. HBOS are brilliant at communications but there are some fundamental problems at that company that not even brilliant communications can overcome.'

However, there were some concerns that too much pressure rested on O'Riordain's shoulders. 'HBOS's problem is that it is pretty much all down to one bloke,' said one banking journalist, while another added: 'HBOS has been very clever over the years at having a pop at other banks but the bank has struggled to address the criticism it has faced in recent weeks. They probably hoped it would just go away but instead it went in the other direction.'

O'Riordain's efforts were, however, recognised by Britain's media. In the four months to August, when HBOS was forced to launch an emergency rights issue and defend itself against rumours fuelled by market speculators, 64 per cent of its newspaper coverage was neutral, according to analysis by Sonar, a division of Echo Research. The remaining 36 per cent of coverage was deemed negative.

Only Lloyds TSB, which has little exposure to the US sub prime market and produced decent interim profits, had a similarly high proportion of neutral comments.

Most of the journalists, however, accepted that the communications of Britain's banks during the crisis has largely been shaped by the circumstances that each had found itself in.

'HBOS tried hard but they were not good enough because they did not have a good enough story to tell,' states one banking reporter. Lloyds TSB faced predictably heavier criticism, given that it had secret bid talks to protect. 'Lloyds TSB has not been helpful, to be honest,' says another. 'Not as helpful as they could have been,' was another verdict. Indeed, just two per cent of Lloyds TSB's media coverage was deemed positive by Sonar, at a time when its financial strength and performance should have stood the bank apart from its peers.

By contrast, almost half (48 per cent) of all articles written about Royal Bank of Scotland were found to be negative. Among the top five British banks, Royal Bank of Scotland's media coverage in the four months to August had the biggest proportion of negative coverage.

One senior financial journalist said: 'RBS have been pretty poor the whole way through from the ABN Amro takeover of last year but even they have improved in the last few weeks. Maybe they need us more now than we need them.'

Opinion was more mixed about HSBC, which together with Barclays, both scored 12 per cent positive coverage - the highest in the sector. 'They're by far the worst UK bank at communicating with the media,' said one journalist. 'There's a degree of complacency about them.'

'HSBC have been good but they have not had the problems of the rest of the sector,' said another correspondent. 'HSBC have not been too bad,' said a third. 'They have been reasonably good at putting up senior people on an off the record basis.'

Howard Brand, finance sector director at Echo Research, which analysed 1,299 articles covering Britain's top five banks, said: 'Without the banks' articulating clear strategies and being able to demonstrate a firm grasp of the impact of the global credit crunch, sensational headlines were often spiced with executive compensation stories questioning the value of current leadership.  Not least, certain media sections increased their calls for the head of RBS's Sir Fred Goodwin following the ill-timed acquisition of ABN Amro. On the other hand, Barclays and HSBC were able to secure better profiles and in-depth reporting as they focused on their own longer-term strategies.' 

Barclays enjoyed the most media coverage over the period to August, of which half was neutral and 38 per cent was deemed negative by Sonar. 'Barclays have been the best,' said one banking journalist, 'but their communication was wasted because no-one listened to them.'

However, the longer-term issue may be how the crisis has affected the relationships of Britain's high street banks with the financial journalists that cover them for the national newspapers.

The sector has long been known for its close relationships between the banks and reporters, with most banks eschewing large press conferences at their financial results in favour of smaller roundtable gatherings with less than a dozen correspondents.

However, one banking journalist concluded: 'The really interesting thing about this is that none of the banks have stood out in this period of crisis. The perception that I have at the moment is that they are all engaged in a pretty sick business sector. They're starting to look and feel as bad as each other.'

Methodology: Opinions were sought of banking and financial services journalists at Financial Times, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Evening Standard and Daily Express.

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