UR TV CAST

This may seem a statement of the blindingly obvious, but not for the Japanese government, which has been trying to build a consensus around how to deal with the debt crisis. The third message is that the Japanese government is sufficiently confident to bring the bad debt situation fully into the open, having swept it firmly under the carpet for so long.
Japan is a country where conspiracy theories are almost as thick on the ground as cherry trees Much of it is justified. The second is that the crisis is of such magnitude that only radical action, involving the use of public money, can prevent widespread damage to the interests of ordinary savers. The markets, impatiently waiting for signs that the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo is ready to tackle squarely the banking system’s horrendous bad debt problems, gave a speedy thumbs-up to the robust action taken at Hyogo, a large regional bank, and Kizu, the country’s second-biggest credit co-operative This official action contained three important messages

The first is that depositors’ money is protected.

But the Japanese authorities appeared yesterday to have pulled off just that. Yorkshire’s executives are nonetheless perilously close to last chance saloon.. To turn two banking failures in one day into a boost for confidence in the Japanese financial system is no mean feat. Its handling of the drought has been similarly insensitive and unnecessary, culminating in its appallingly timed letter to business customers, urging them to relocate production if possible to non-drought hit areas.As far as investors are concerned, none of this yet justifies seeking an executive scalp; they have little reason to be unhappy with financial performance, after all. With Mrs Scott, its approach, though possibly justified, was dogmatic and stuffy. She was vocal, articulate, some would say vindictive in her approach, and the company’s faults gained a profile far higher than others, with perhaps more cause to worry about its customer relations Yorkshire has done little to help itself, however.

It is therefore something of a puzzle that management should have got itself into such a lamentable position.In part, the problem was created for it by Ian Byatt’s refusal to renew Diana Scott’s contract as head of the local Ofwat customer services committee. Subsequently, she became the focal point for all those with a complaint. Led by the gentlemanly figure of Sir Gordon Jones, its management is also, for a utility, of the relatively enlightened variety; it has been at the forefront of moves to pre-empt the regulator with discretionary investment programmes and customer rebates over and above those demanded by the rules. Yorkshire’s performance in this field has been particularly poor; investors with an interest in the company’s long-term future cannot but take notice of the present shenanigans, for a company not at ease with its customers – even with monopoly privilege – will ultimately fail.
The irony of Yorkshire’s position is that when it comes to charges, quality of service and number of complaints, it is no worse than any of the other water companies and, in a great many respects, it is better. Is Yorkshire Water just accident-prone or is there something seriously wrong? Its latest missive to business customers is certainly indicative of a company with a very substantial public relations problem – considerably worse than any of the other water companies – and, even for a utility, a quite breath-taking ability for putting its foot in it.

But it is not clear that this demands the changes at senior management level that some are beginning to talk of in the City. Good public relations is a very substantial part of the management task for a privatised utility Few of them have shown much aptitude for it. The only sure winners are the investment bankers and lawyers paid to put these deals together – and to take them apart again later when they fail to gel.. The media market is moving so quickly that even the most fleet-footed find it hard to keep up. Managements would be better employed keeping their eyes on the ball.