TESCO Bank chief executive Benny Higgins has declared that "most expensive orgy in history" is over, quoting F Scott Fitzgerald, as he highlighted changes made at Tesco Bank since the credit crunch.
Mr Higgins is seeking to build Tesco Bank as a rival to the established high street institutions after the supermarket giant bought out Royal Bank of Scotland from their previous joint venture in 2008.
Mr Higgins said: "As the chief executive of Tesco Bank, creating the right culture in the bank has been my priority since we assumed full control.
"Ultimately it is the culture of a business that transcends all other influences on how its customers are treated." In a blog on Tesco's website, Mr Higgins quoted F Scott Fitzgerald's 1931 magazine article Echoes of the Jazz Age: "Somebody had blundered and the most expensive orgy in history was over.
"It ended two years ago, because the utter confidence which was its essential prop received an enormous jolt and it didn't take long for the flimsy structure to settle earthward."
Mr Higgins, a former executive at RBS, Halifax Bank of Scotland and Standard Life, said: "The essence of these words could have been written at any point in the past few years."
He warned that history could repeat itself unless changes were made.
"How often do we hear customers' interests stand at the heart of an organisation? It is far rarer to observe an organisation that goes beyond rhetoric and embeds the beliefs in the mechanics of how the business is managed," Mr Higgins said.
Edinburgh-based Tesco Bank, he said is "trying to be different". It has dropped sales targets and sales incentives at call centres.
"Culture is not about words, it is about actions," Mr Higgins said.
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