THURSDAY 16th MARCH 2000; Give Us the Data!

We have an integration meeting. ("PIST- Purchasing Integration Steering Team". My

acronym.) NatWest staff are getting fed up with the information flow still being one way - London to Edinburgh. We are not having real exchange of contract information, for instance.

The RBS purchasing head says he doesn't think that there is still a need for secrecy on RBS behalf but he wants to check with the overall RBS integration team leader, as there was originally a brief from him that they shouldn't give out information. Although I think he is very straight from what I've seen, he is obviously a cautious character, which doesn't go down too well in the meeting. For the first time, there is some tension, with my people pushing for a more structured approach and for us to at least try and do some detailed comparisons and analysis within the 30-day timeframe.

I call Mike Newens, our Group Property supremo, at about 5.30 p.m. for a chat. He has just returned from five and a half hours of testing; psychometric tests, verbal reasoning, an "attitude to risk" questionnaire and probably the Cosmopolitan "How great a lover are you?" quiz thrown in for good luck by the sound of it.

He was contacted yesterday and told he had an interview immediately that afternoon, with the tests to follow today. I suppose at least you don't have time to worry about them given that lack of notice. His RBS equivalent was also processed today...