City Diary: Skeletons of note in plastic money printer's closet

But Diary can see why the Bank of England, which has had to deny its knowledge of alleged Forex fixing in recent days , didn't note its new partner’s past in this week’s announcement on the contract for the £5 and £10 bills.

Let’s hope – like the plastic banknotes – all comes clean in the wash.

Cuts at Coutts

Expect the rivers to run red at blue-blooded Coutts. Employees at the RBS-owned wealth manager have “reacted furiously” after learning that their bonuses will be down 40pc this year.

It’s jolly unfair, say the Coutts clan, since their operating profit of £221m was down a mere 10pc in 2013. Bonuses for their RBS colleagues, who racked up an £8.2bn loss, have only been cut 15pc.

Word on the street – well, Citywire's Wealth Manager magazine – is that RBS bosses are worried about losing key people in the businesses it is looking to sell.

It seems safe to say that Coutts isn’t on that disposal list.

Myners was write on track

Not many people know that before the former Labour City minister and would-be Co-op saviour, Lord Myners, rose to fame, he was employed as The Daily Telegraph’s share-tipping expert on these pages’ esteemed Questor column.

So thanks to one former colleague for writing in with some “classic memories” of the grandee’s first day as a City journalist.

On being frogmarched to the nearby Seahorse pub for a lunchtime education, the young Paul Myners turned to his grizzled companion, the financial hack Bruce Kinloch, and said: “Bruce, I am not here in the City to become a financial journalist – I am here to make money.”

Extremely prescient, as it turned out – so the next round’s on Myners.

Aldi’s winning ways

There were no prizes for “Best Permanent Profit Warning” at last night’s Oracle Retail Week Awards.

So Morrisons chief Dalton Philips was able to spend the evening washing yesterday’s £176m pre-tax loss out of his (perhaps rapidly thinning) hair.

Instead, excitement was lined up in the form of a rare public outing for Roman Heini and Matthew Barnes, the joint MDs of German discounter Aldi.

By not-so popular choice – at least among its “Big Four” rivals, given its deadly assault on their market share – Aldi was named Retailer of the Year.

As the judges noted, the one-time underdog’s “unprecedented success” leaves Britain’s ailing middle-market grocers with “a challenge ahead”.

Annie's power wanes

Diary was concerned that pride would come before a fall when banker Rich Ricci boasted prematurely that his horse, Annie Power, had “already won” the big race at Cheltenham yesterday .

For once, Diary’s racing forecast was spot on. Annie Power came second to More Of That in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, leaving Ricci slightly less rich than he would have been if the race’s £275,000 prize pot had paid out.

But at least Barclays’ former casino banking chief won’t have gambled his own money. As Ricci told Diary earlier this week: “I'm not a punter.”

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harriet.dennys@telegraph.co.uk

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