We have been through an exceptionally difficult period for the global economy and the bank. The crisis in global financial markets and deteriorating economic conditions across the world has weakened many financial services organisations. This situation was made worse for us, as some of our major strategic decisions were subsequently shown to be bad mistakes, making us more vulnerable than we would have been otherwise.

We have identified what went wrong, acted to fix the immediate problems and have set in place a sweeping restructuring and new strategic plan to regain standalone strength. This is the top priority of our new management team and Board.