(Oxford, 18 January 2021) Sir Victor Blank, a leading UK businessman and philanthropist, has generously agreed to endow this post, and is doing so jointly with the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe. Sir Victor was until recently the Chairman of the Trustees of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe. In recognition, the post will be named ‘The Victor Blank Curator of Hebraica and Judaica’, and the lecture theatre in the Weston Library will be named ‘The Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre’ for a period of 25 years.

Currently filled by Dr César Merchán-Hamann, this role is the guardian of one of the most significant collections of Hebrew manuscripts in the world, alongside an extraordinarily rich collection of early Hebrew and Yiddish printed books. Hebrew books were among the original endowment of the Bodleian Library and among the first to be listed in the library’s earliest catalogue in 1605. Highlights of the collections include a fragment of Maimonides’ autograph draft of the Mishneh Torah from the Cairo Genizah; exquisitely illuminated manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, such as the 15th century Kennicott Bible, still with its original goatskin box-binding; and stunning festival prayer books, such as the richly illuminated 14th century Tripartite Maḥzor from the Michael collection. The manuscripts come from Western, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as from North Africa, the Middle East and as far as China. All fields of traditional Hebrew scholarship are represented in the collection. Its geographic, cultural and chronological range is enormous, representing a large panorama of Jewish life and culture in the last millennium. The Ethiopic, Samaritan, Mandaic and Syriac collections are more modest, but all include individually significant items.

Recently, the splendour of the collections was brought to the wider public’s attention through a stunning book Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries. Many of the greatest items are freely available online, and the Bodleian has ambitious plans to digitize its entire Hebrew and Jewish collection, a project which the Curator will be leading. As part of this project, the Curator will be working closely with the National Library of Israel to enable greater access to the Bodleian’s collections through the NLI’s Ktiv digitisation programme. The Curator will also continue to hold the post of Head Librarian of the major Hebraica and Judaica collections of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies which are housed in the Leopold Muller Memorial Library, since 2014 integrated into the Bodleian.

Sir Victor Blank said:

‘My love and fascination with the Bodleian Library goes back to my undergraduate days. As a historian, I came to appreciate the uniqueness of the Bodleian, housing and preserving swathes of our written history in this country and across the world. The pre-eminent collection of Hebrew and Yiddish books (a collection as good as almost any in the world) requires love and care from a dedicated curator. I am delighted to be able, with the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, to secure that post for the future.’

Lord Jacob Rothschild said:

‘My family is proud to be associated with this important initiative. Our Foundation looks to the future, and supporting this curatorial position, in partnership with Sir Victor Blank, will contribute to securing Jewish scholarship and offering access to unique manuscripts for generations to come. I am particularly pleased that the Bodleian’s relationship with the National Library of Israel, which Yad Hanadiv, our family foundation in Israel is deeply involved with, will be deepened and enhanced through this collaboration.’

Richard Ovenden OBE, Bodley’s Librarian, said:

‘I am delighted that this curatorship is now safeguarded for future generations. The Bodleian has treasured Hebrew books since its foundation more than 400 years ago, and we remain committed to preserving and making available these highly important collections. This donation shows confidence in the Bodleian’s world-class scholarship in Hebrew and Jewish studies, and will allow us to extend our work to share the richness of Jewish culture and learning with students, scholars and the general public across the globe. We are enormously grateful to Sir Victor Blank & to the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe for this tremendous gift.’

ENDS

For images please refer to:
https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2021/jan-18

For further information please contact:
For Sir Victor Blank: John Watts at BLJ London: johnw@blj.co.uk; +447957277659
For Bodleian Libraries:  Liam Challenger, Press and Communications Manager
liam.challenger@bodleian.ox.ac.uk, +44 (0)1865 277227

For out of hours press enquiries 07718118141

About the Global Leadership Foundation

https://www.g-l-f.org/Impact

The work of the Global Leadership Foundation to improve the quality and effectiveness of governmental leadership and governance improves stability, assists development and reduces suffering and poverty.

Its way of working enables former Heads of State to share their experience with today’s leaders; this is especially relevant in fragile and developing countries where institutions are immature or do not yet exist and, as a result, the role of the individual leader is proportionately greater. In such countries, improved leadership and governance are vital to improving political and economic development and reducing corruption, instability, suffering, poverty and distress.

Since it was formed in 2004 GLF has worked in 23 countries around the world. However, owing to the confidential nature of its work, GLF does not publish the names of these countries in order to protect the integrity of the relationship with the Head of Government. What we can observe, however, is that GLF has made a definable difference in the following areas:

Security and conflict management

• GLF’s advice to a Head of Government at a critical moment in his negotiations with opponents in a civil war facilitated regional mediation which led to the release of hostages, a reduction in the fighting and improved prospects for a negotiated settlement;
• At the request of the UN, GLF combined with military expertise to help lower tensions between police and military which had led to open conflict. GLF involvement resulted in the successful resumption of a vital UN programme of security sector reform;
• Discreet discussions with a president and his advisors led to a country adopting a regional, as opposed to a purely national, response to a conflict in its neighbouring country.

Elections

• GLF’s presence at the first free elections run by a newly independent state and their separate conversations with the leaders of all participating political parties helped ensure a peaceful and transparent election;
• GLF assisted the Election Commission in a country with a history of electoral violence which held peaceful elections under a new Constitution;
• GLF contributed to the lawful and peaceful conduct of elections in a potentially divisive situation through meetings with leaders of main political parties, military leadership and electoral commissioners.

Transition

• GLF, through its Members, brought the personal experience of successful transition in South Africa and Indonesia to a country itself undergoing a difficult transition, with private meetings with all parties involved;
• GLF’s engagement with the Head of State of a country facing significant political transition at a time of renewed conflict helped ensure that the transition was peaceful and negotiations replaced conflict.

Trade and economic management

• GLF involvement with the development budget process led to a three year programme which transformed the management of a Ministry of Finance;
• GLF helped a developed but formerly isolated country with accession negotiations to a global trade body;
• GLF advised a leader and members of parliament on macro-economic policy challenges in relation to the exploitation of natural resources;
• GLF advised a Head of State on matters relating to FDI, relations with multilateral lending agencies, land tenure reform and micro-financing.

Efficient governance and constitution building

• GLF arranged for a former Speaker of Parliament to give personal, peer to peer training to an untried Speaker of a brand new Parliament post-independence, changing some standing orders to enable the Parliament to function;
• GLF instigated and supervised the re-organisation of a President’s office to remove blocks to the effective delivery of the government’s programme and the successful communication of the leader’s message;
• GLF brought the regional expertise and experience of one of its Members to advise on the drafting of a new Constitution;
• GLF helped a presidency realize its stated intention to fully implement the signed peace agreement with particular reference to the internal political and constitutional issues.

Examples in the public domain, where a leader has indicated he is happy for GLF to publicize its involvement, are as below:

Mozambique, 2016
GLF co-chaired peace talks between government and the main opposition party following escalating conflict across the country.

Ghana, 2013-14
GLF helped ease political tensions following a disputed election and brought independent advice on resource management and fiscal responsibility to parliamentary oversight committees.

Kenya, 2011-13
GLF supported the newly created Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission before and after the closely contested elections in 2013.

Haiti, 2011
In partnership with Club of Madrid, GLF helped the Haitian government set political and economic priorities in relation to security, the delivery of public goods, the relationship between political parties, parliament and local authorities; and judicial and penitentiary reform.

Timor-Leste, 2007-09
GLF helped to strengthen democratic institutions, ease pre-election tensions, maintain positive relationships between parties working towards security sector modernisation, and improve the efficiency of the Ministry of Finance.

Source:
GLF

The 5,803 former Lloyds TSB shareholders claim they were “mugged” when the bank took over HBOS, which was laden with bad mortgages.

Lloyds was forced to accept a £20bn state bailout and the government continued to own a stake until 2017.

Lloyds said it welcomed the decision as the best for shareholders as a whole.

Damon Parker, founder and partner of law firm Harcus Parker, who represents 300 institutions as well as individual shareholders in the case, said: “Our clients are deeply disappointed by today’s judgment,

“They wish to assess their options and will be considering whether to appeal.”

During the hearing, the judge heard arguments that directors had recommended the “disastrous” acquisition when, based on information they had, no reasonable director would have done so.

The judge was told Lloyds directors failed to disclose the following facts:

HBOS had received a covert loan from the Bank of England – known as “Emergency Liquidity Assistance” – totalling £25.65bn
After announcing the intended acquisition, Lloyds had secretly loaned HBOS a further £10bn
HBOS had also received covert financial support from the US Federal Reserve, then totalling $14.5bn (£11bn)

But lawyers for Lloyds argued that the case was “entirely devoid of merit”, and “fundamentally flawed at every level”.

A Lloyds Banking Group spokeswoman said: “The group welcomes the court’s decision. Throughout this process, the group has sought to act in the interests of our shareholders as a whole.”

Original story can be found at:
BBC

The Swiss based company is building a global leading technology platform for the financial services industry. At the centre of Numbrs is the development of the Numbrs banking app, becoming the market leader amongst independent banking apps.

Numbrs has signed landmark partnership agreements with 30 of the world’s foremost financial organisations, more than any other fintech company today. Numbrs partners include Allianz, AXA, Santander, Lloyds, Barclays, ABN AMRO, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and Credit Agricole. Numbrs’ vision is to become the world’s largest digital asset manager.

Joining Sir Victor Blank on the advisory board is former Vice Chancellor of Germany Dr Philipp Röslet and Mr Bill Benz former CEO at PIMCO Europe. Sir Victor joined the advisory board as a founder member in March 2019.

As a member of the Numbrs Advisory Board, Sir Victor Blank will work closely with the leadership team – lead by Founder and Executive Chairman Martin Saidler -helping shape and guide strategy as well as expand Numbrs global networks.

Biographies of other members of Numbrs Advisory Board

Dr. Philipp Rösler
Dr. Philipp Rösler is a former German politician who was the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2011 to 2013. He was the first German Minister of Economics to visit Silicon Valley. After retiring from politics, Dr. Philipp Rösler became a member of the managing board of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Additionally, he got appointed as the chief executive officer of New York-based Cihang Charity Foundation, the largest shareholder of HNA Group.

Mr. Bill Benz
Mr. Bill Benz served as the Chief Executive Officer at PIMCO Europe Ltd. PIMCO is an American investment management firm focusing on fixed income, headquartered in California, with 2,300 employees working in 14 offices across 11 countries, and $1.66 trillion in assets under management as of 31 December 2018. Mr. Benz previously also worked at Bank of America.

Additional information on Numbrs can be found at:
https://www.numbrs.com

Source: Financial Times

On the role of Sir Victor Blank, Gordon Brown wrote:

“I then talked directly to Victor Blank, then Lloyds chairman, who was to be unfairly criticised for his role in the Lloyds-HBOS link-up, mainly by Lloyds shareholders who would have to endure hefty losses. I found him straightforward, a man of integrity, and in my view he behaved in a way that was beyond reproach.”

From: Gordon Brown: My Life, Our Times, p.307. Published by The Bodley Head, London, November 2017

The reception was hosted by Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of the New York-based Citigroup, who had just presided over a two-day board meeting which turned out to be one of the gloomiest in the long history of the American bank, then ranked as the seventh biggest in the world. Bankshares that day had collapsed, with Citigroup’s own shares down 40 per cent in a single session and no financial institution, including Lloyds, had escaped the market mayhem. What had been intended as a social evening for his Citigroup board to meet some of the leading figures in Britain’s banking and financial communities had been overwhelmed by the events of the past twenty-four hours.

Bischoff was anxiously glancing at his watch when Blank finally appeared. A few minutes earlier he had checked with the organiser to see if everyone was present so they could cut off the interminable drinks session and go next door to dinner. ‘All, except for one person,’ she answered. ‘We’re still waiting for Sir Victor Blank.’ ‘We’ll give him five more minutes,’ Bischoff decided. ‘The Prime Minister wants to disappear but he wants to talk to him first.’

At that moment the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was standing a few feet away, deep in conversation with Bob Rubin, a former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs and Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton who now served on the Citigroup board. Brown knew him well from his days as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the two of them were animatedly debating the urgent actions their respective governments should be taking to head off financial Armageddon.

The Citibank event had been in Brown’s diary for months but he had cancelled the dinner and had come along to the cocktail party to hear what the bankers had to say – and to lend an air of reassurance that the government was staying calm. The atmosphere in the room was anything but calm. Words such as ‘scary’, ‘terrifying’ and ‘meltdown’ could be heard above the hubbub and the word ‘Lehman’ was on everyone’s lips. The events over the weekend were unprecedented in financial history and no one had any illusions about the fall-out, which was going to affect all of them profoundly.

Blank, not a man to panic easily, was as concerned as any of them. He had woken up that morning to the news that Lehman was filing for bankruptcy, the biggest banking failure ever and America’s largest bankruptcy. And that was not all: the mighty Merrill Lynch, the legendary
‘Thundering Herd’ and the largest brokerage house on earth, had suffered such massive losses on its mortgage portfolio that it had to be bailed out by Bank of America before the markets opened. At close of business on Friday there had been four major investment banks on Wall Street: Merrill’s, Lehman, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. By Monday there were two: Morgan Stanley and Goldmans – and even they looked perilously close to the brink too.

Just as seriously, the global insurance giant AIG (American International Group, Inc.) was in deep trouble, desperately trying to scrape together an emergency injection of $50 billion to keep it afloat after its shares fell by 72 per cent in one day. Its collapse, which seemed imminent, threatened the entire world insurance system as well as the banks, whose loans it insured.

Blank had spent the day talking to his executives and board, trying to get a handle on the impact on Lloyds of these momentous, unimaginable events. Lloyds, like every bank, did business with Lehman and he knew there would be a write-off, possibly running into the hundreds of millions. Until twenty-four hours before, Lehman had also been Lloyds’s lead stockbroker (Merrill was another one) and would have to be replaced at a time when it was needed the most.

As he arrived at the Citigroup reception, Blank was still trying to absorb the fact that the brash, irrepressible Lehman, which was founded in 1850 and had weathered the American Civil War, the Great Depression, two world wars and countless financial crises, was no more, its doors closed forever. Earlier in the day he had watched the TV coverage of disconsolate Lehman employees, among the highest earners in the City just a week before, carrying all that remained of their glittering careers in cardboard boxes out onto the street in Canary Wharf. That stark, unforgettable scene, more than any other, symbolised better than anything the end of the longest and biggest banking boom in history – and presaged the biggest crash which was now under way.

The Lloyds chairman made straight for Bischoff who tactfully steered Rubin away to leave Brown alone with Blank, out of earshot of the rest of the room. The Prime Minister didn’t waste time on pleasantries and went straight to the matter on hand. ‘I haven’t forgotten that conversation we had on the plane about Halifax Bank of Scotland,’ he began, oblivious to the quizzical looks cast in their direction. ‘We have been thinking quite hard about it – and we’ll do everything we can to help.’

This was momentous news, which Blank had been waiting to hear since he and the Prime Minister talked on a plane coming back from Israel six weeks before. But he hadn’t expected to get it at a cocktail party. For two years Lloyds and HBOS, Britain’s fifth and fourth biggest banks respectively, had been trying to find ways to merge but had never been able to get past the competition issues involved. In July, with HBOS in serious trouble, Blank had suggested to Brown that the government help clear the way for the merger on the grounds that, unless HBOS was rescued by Lloyds, it would either go bust or have to be nationalised, both equally
unpalatable for the Prime Minister. Now he listened, half stunned, as Brown finally gave him his decision.

‘We recognise your argument that you could not go through the competitions process, particularly if there was a full review,’ the Prime Minister said. ‘Halifax Bank of Scotland could not survive it, so if you still want to do it, you should get on with it quickly.’ He had, he said, scheduled a meeting the next morning with the new Chancellor, Alistair Darling, and
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, and he would start the process immediately. After once more urging Blank to move fast and keep Downing Street informed, the Prime Minister turned away and, saying his goodbyes, left the room. He was expecting a long evening back at the office.

It took the normally quick-witted Blank a moment to take in the significance of what he had just heard. In effect, he had been given the green light for Lloyds TSB to proceed with the acquisition of HBOS, which at that moment seemed to be heading the same way as Northern Rock, the high-flying mortgage bank which had collapsed the previous year after the first bank run in Britain for more than a century. That day alone the HBOS share price had fallen by 18 per cent, deposits were flowing out at a terrifying rate and the view in the Lloyds boardroom, shared by some of those in Spencer House, was that without government help, or a takeover from a stronger bank, it might not survive the week.
With 15 million investors, 5 million mortgage-holders, 2 million shareholders and assets in excess of the annual UK GDP, its collapse could bring down the whole British banking system, turning the developing recession into the deepest depression since the 1930s.
The Prime Minister was aware that, behind the scenes, Lloyds and HBOS had been in merger discussions for months, but he didn’t know the details. In fact, they were a long way down the road, and two months earlier the two banks had informally agreed on a basic structure whereby
Lloyds, marginally the smaller of the two but with a stronger balance sheet, would take over HBOS.

It would be an all-paper deal, a swap of Lloyds’s shares for HBOS’s, designed to protect every pound in precious capital the two banks could muster between them. Blank would be chairman of the new group and his American-born chief executive, Eric Daniels, would retain executive control. In a single bound, Lloyds, long seen as the staidest and most old-fashioned of all the high street banks, would vault to first place among domestic British banks, a position it had not enjoyed for a decade, the leader in all the major banking retail markets.

To the 65-year-old Blank, in his third year as non-executive chairman, HBOS was ‘the big prize’, the acquisition which, from the moment he arrived at Lloyds in 2006, he and the board had believed was the best solution to Lloyds’s strategic problems. Both HBOS and Lloyds, he had long concluded, were ‘marooned’, stuck as two mid-sized financial institutions focusing on a mature UK banking market which had barely grown in five years. A decade of trying to expand through cross-border mergers in Europe had taken Lloyds nowhere and for some time Blank and
Daniels had been focused on a merger with HBOS as their best way to break out of their strategic straitjacket. The financial crisis, and HBOS’s looming problems, gave them their window, the one brief moment when the competition rules could be relaxed long enough to let them through, but they had to move fast before it closed again. HBOS, after a period of wild and overaggressive expansion, needed rescue and Lloyds was the only bank around that could bail it out.

Watching the Prime Minister’s back recede through the door, Blank caught the eye of his chief executive, who had been observing his interaction with Brown from across the room, and he gestured for him to follow him outside. Daniels was an obsessive smoker and was delighted
to be in the open air where they stood on the steps directly underneath Rupert Murdoch’s London apartment and facing (Lord) Jacob Rothschild’s headquarters (also at the party).

‘Eric, you’re not going to believe this,’ Blank began as Daniels lit up. He then related the conversation he had just had and its implications. ‘It’s as firm an assurance as he can give,’ concluded Blank. While Blank went back into the dinner, Daniels wheeled into action,
calling his opposite number at HBOS, Andy Hornby, to pass on the news and ask him to assemble his executive team for a meeting first thing in the morning.

Later in the evening Blank got hold of the HBOS chairman, (Lord) Dennis Stevenson, to tell him: ‘Dennis, we’ve got the go-ahead from Gordon Brown on the competition issue. But we need to move fast.’ Stevenson, contemplating the collapse of his bank and an inglorious end to his career, needed no urging.

The biggest banking merger in British history was under way.

The book is available to order from The Robson Press

Full Story: The Independent

Full Story: The Times