Bank boss Stephen Hester has insisted he has plenty in common with Streatham’s small business owners.

Speaking at a meeting in the Gracefield Gardens Customer Centre on Friday, May 15, the Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive said the success of any business relied on its customers, but admitted even his bank had slow days.

He said: “We may be a big business but we are a business like all of yours. There is no business I have come across which can be healthy without being good to its customers.

“All of us have the same challenge every day. Each of us does it imperfectly and each of us falls down.

“Our business is a very big one so it perhaps turns more slowly than I would like it sometimes but I am really clear our job is to do a good job for customers.”

Business owners quizzed Mr Hester, who hit the headlines in January for turning down his controversial £1m bonus, on how banks could help rejuvenate the town centre, provide better mortgage rates, and lobby Government to prevent small businesses from folding.

Responding to a question about mortgages, he said: “We are one of two banks which have been expanding the number of mortgages we do. But I would be the first to acknowledge we are doing it under tighter conditions than we might have done four years ago.”

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And commenting on the country’s current financial state, he added: “It is crystal clear countries have to be managed in a way so they do not risk going bust, which sometimes means spending less.

“Things are much uglier if you go bust and have to recover than if you never get there.”

Mr Hester joined Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, who organised the meeting, for a walk along Streatham High Road to discuss changes to the town centre.

The Shadow Business Secretary said the visit demonstrated Streatham was “the centre of the universe” but Lee Alley, chairman of the Streatham Business Board, criticised him for organising the meeting without consulting his group.

He said: “I was incandescent. It would have been nice for him to say ‘We are going to have this meeting, you should come along.’”