Royal Bank of Scotland has “cancelled its corporate hospitality at Wimbledon in the wake of the IT meltdown which left thousands of customers without access to cash,” according to the London TELEGRAPH. The bank, which indicated that it is “finally getting on top of the crisis, said it would be ‘inappropriate’ to continue providing the hospitality.” RBS had “already hosted clients for the first two days of the championships and had planned to do so” for the rest of the tournament. The bank “declined to divulge how much money it had planned to spend on hospitality” (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 6/27). In London, Moore-Bridger & Bhatia noted around 300 clients "have been told they can no longer come to the All England Club after RBS CEO Stephen Hester ordered the corporate hospitality to stop.” Sources said that the decision “came ‘from the top’ after he realised the entertaining had carried on for two days despite customers still having difficulties accessing money.” The RBS corporate suite next to Court 1 yesterday “was empty following the bank’s announcement” (London EVENING STANDARD, 6/26). RBS also has “cancelled plans for a prestigious corporate event” at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland that included a golf lesson with HOFer Jack Nicklaus. It remains unclear “whether the event with Nicklaus, who enjoyed a long-standing relationship with RBS, will be rescheduled” (SCOTSMAN, 6/27).
