Merrill Lynch banker to advise UKFI on RBS and Lloyds stakes

Jim O'Neil, the latest Merrill Lynch banker to be recruited by UKFI (UK Financial Investments), will be paid £180,000-a-year to advise the government on the best moment to offload the state's stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. Okay, the salary might not secure bragging rights in the investment banking world. But didn't Mark Hoban, the City minister, tell this paper the other day that "I don't think anyone really expected there'd be a sale in the shares of RBS or Lloyds over the course of the next 12 or 18 months"? So, that's £180k-a-year for saying "hold". Nice.