Back once again to the much-maligned banking sector. I wonder if any staff at National Irish Bank would care to share with its customers the contents of their in-house newsletter.

It might be that no-one would find the contents of such a document interesting but, if the tabloid publication tendencies of its parent National Australia Bank (NAB) are anything to go by, it could be interesting.

NAB advised its tellers to "hit back" at grumbling customers. An "attacker" who dared to criticise the bank's healthy profits - two billion Australian dollars (#1.23 billion) - could be told such profits were necessary to prevent a take-over by a foreign bank. This, said the newsletter, would cause the "assailant" to "slink off, silent and defeated".

With customer relations like that, foreign ownership might be a blessing.