For Stephen Hester, taking over the job of chief executive at the troubled Royal Bank of Scotland Group in November 2008 was the biggest leap of faith in his life. It was at the height of the global financial crisis and the bank was on the verge of collapse, forcing the British government to bail it out with a huge amount of taxpayers' money.
Now more than 17 months into the job, Hester's business acumen, honed by his nearly 20 years of investment banking experience, has not failed him. 'Even though it was the biggest corporate restructuring in history, I was the one saying that we could do this from the beginning,' he said. 'I did not find it hard because I believe in it.'
Hester is increasingly sanguine about the future of the world economy and the bank itself. 'The world economy is recovering and the probability of a major double dip is low, if not impossible. We have continued to see the worst is behind us,' he said in an interview in Beijing last week.
He said the bank has made dramatic progress in terms of recapitali-sation and rebuilding balance sheets. The bank's core tier-1 ratio stands at 11 per cent, making it one of the better-capitalised banks in the world.
With the onset of the quarterly reporting season, strong first-quarter results posted by JP Morgan Chase, the second-largest bank in the United States by market capitalisation, has added more confidence about economic recovery in the US and the rest of the world.
JP Morgan chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon said in a conference call with reporters last week that 'a strong recovery' could be on the way, following a clear and broad-based improvement in the economy in the US and around the world.
'We see all the same trends,' Hester said. 'But I myself would be a bit more cautious than he sounded. I think while the immediate problems are receding, the medium problems need to be solved and we should not take it for granted how easy that would be.