The average manager stays just two years - hardly the way to build up relationships said Alison

The average manager stays just two years - hardly the way to build up relationships," said Alison Causfield, business economist at the Institute of Directors."There's too much emphasis on security, and overcharging keeps on coming up again and again," she added.Lloyds TSB kicks off the annual reporting season on Valentine's Day, followed in rapid succession by Barclays, NatWest, Abbey National and HSBC-owned Midland Bank.Together with the main two clearers north of the border, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland, the main banks will turn in pre-tax profits of pounds 10.4bn for 1996 - up nearly 20 per cent from pounds 8.7bn last year."This should certainly be a record year for the UK sector," said John Leonard, banking analyst at Salomon.Flotation of the Halifax, Woolwich and Alliance & Leicester building societies - worth pounds 20bn in all - will spur competition in the second half, in particular for savers' deposits.But, according to brokers' latest estimates, profits from the top seven will set a new record in 1997 - nearly pounds 12bn - following economic growth, resurgence in the housing market and further pruning of branches and staff.The City is ruling out a windfall tax, however, by either Labour or the Conservatives, talk of which resurfaced after sparkling interim results from the banks before last year's Budget.But with those figures rolling around, observers expect small business to be a key political battleground."There is likely to be political pressure to provide better value for money," said Mark Thomas, banking analyst at brokers Collins Stewart."The small business sector is the most profitable for the banks, so on that basis you can say they're overcharged more than others."This weekend, the 95,000-strong Federation of Small Businesses said that just 20 per cent of new start-ups were gaining the backing of banks against 50 per cent normally.A spokesman said entrepreneurs had become shy after bad experiences with high charges in the recession, while banks had become more risk averse in their drive for profits.. Britain's seven top high-street banks will report record profits of more than pounds 10bn for 1996 - and spark more complaints that small businesses, in particular, are still getting a raw deal. Since then, however, Chase Montagu is understood to have received more than pounds 1.5m from Facia Ltd alone.Up to the collapse, payments continued at a profligate rate: monthly expenditure on helicopter hire alone was running at pounds 23,500 and rent for Mr Hinchliffe's plush Eaton Row residence in London at pounds 10-12,000.. It is not possible to comment on individual investigations," one source said.Mr Hinchliffe's City lawyers, Peters & Peters, also declined to comment on his tax affairs.His solicitor Keith Oliver, however, repeated the businessman's denial of any wrongdoing connected to the collapse of Facia.Since December, the Facia group's affairs have been in the hands of liquidators from BDO Stoy Hayward, who are now in talks with Mr Hinchliffe over recovery of payments to his network of private firms.These include Chase Montagu, his Sheffield-based master company, and Colibri lighters, which was lent pounds 1.97m by Facia.This weekend his solicitors denied talk that Mr Hinchliffe was trying to sell Colibri which, like all his assets, is covered by a court restraining order."Mr Hinchliffe is engaged in very constructive discussions with the newly appointed liquidators of Facia in relation to Colibri, and with third parties concerning the future growth and development of its business," Mr Oliver said."There is no question of him disposing of his controlling interest."Meanwhile, the latest accounts for Chase Montagu for 1994, filed at the beginning of January, have been heavily qualified by the auditors, who blamed seizure of documents by the SFO.Like many of his private firms, however, legally the accounts were already late by the time of the SFO involvement.They show net assets of pounds 723,000 at the end of 1994, including pounds 1.38m for Mr Hinchliffe's collection of paintings and classic sports cars. Inspectors from the Revenue's Nottingham headquarters are understood to have contacted police investigating the affair, in addition to routine inquiries to Facia's administrators. Mr Hinchliffe is already the subject of a Serious Fraud Office inquiry following the collapse of the Sock Shop to Saxone shoes group with pounds 70m of debts last June.Ten days ago, the SFO and South Yorkshire police raided homes and offices belonging to former bankers to Facia and an associate of Mr Hinchliffe.The new investigation focuses on alleged corruption at Israel's United Mizrahi Bank over loans to Facia and other clients.UMB is already suing former staff over alleged backhanders received in return for making loans.This weekend, the Inland Revenue declined to comment on the extent of its inquiries."We can ask questions of any source if merited. The Inland Revenue is examining the affairs of controversial Sheffield businessman Stephen Hinchliffe in the latest twist to the saga of his failed Facia retail empire.

It fell steadily to a low of 1,086.56 nearly seven months later and showed a loss for the year as a whole.After the losses of the last two days, Wall Street is feeling fragile Bledsoe could complete the rout.. But when the AFC last won the Superbowl in 1984, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had hit its high for the year at 1,286.64 on 6 January, just a few days previously. It is widely accepted that if Bledsoe has an inspired match, the Patriots, representing the AFC, could beat the Packers, who are the NFC champions.The significance for Wall Street is that the history of the Superbowl suggests that when the NFC team wins the market rises - the cynic would say that as stock markets tend to rise and the NFC team tends to win the Superbowl this is hardly surprising. He is the quarterback for the New England Patriots, who line up tonight against the Green Bay Packers in American football's Superbowl. This proposal can only be judged by looking at the long-term implications not the short-term bung.Wall Street touchdownOne man stands between Wall Street and the end of the great US bull market His name is Drew Bledsoe He is not a gifted stock market guru. The board has decided that a two-stage demutual- isation and subsequent float is the best way to build long-term value.It would have been more valid to attack Scottish Amicable if it had continued to chug along as a cosy mutual.

It does not, so it is ploughing its own furrow.The business needs strengthening and it needs a style of management more appropriate for a fast-changing and increasingly competitive market. If Scottish Amicable had the non-life business that Norwich Union is blessed with, it might have been able to consider issuing free shares of its own. In judging Scottish Amicable's demutualisation it is important to look at its decision in the context of its own policyholders, not those at the Norwich Union. So crude an analysis might be slightly more relevant if all mutuals were the same, but they are not.