Translator required: Anyone any idea what Stephen was really "saying but not saying"?

From The Guardian:

"We are now in a position where the government can begin to prepare for privatising RBS. While leading that process would be the end of an incredible chapter for me, ideally for the company it should be led by someone at the beginning of their journey. I will therefore step down at the end of this year to allow a new CEO to lead the group in this next stage," Hester said.

Hester, describing the role as "bruising and difficult" added "it is a sensible thing for the board to look forward to privatisation and I can completely understand that a fresh face with an ability to commit many years into the future may be a good thing for privatisation"...

Hester's resignation comes amid speculation that the chancellor will use next week's Mansion House speech to signal a privatisation plan for both RBS and Lloyds Banking Group.

Update  The Indie is currently running:
Hester la vista: RBS chief forced to go as Chancellor paves way for bank sell-off
George Osborne to fire starting gun on privatisation after the forced departure of Stephen Hester
"Mr Hester, who is in-line for a £1.6m pay-off, was asked to step down by the RBS board following consultations with the Treasury. He will leave the bank later this year clearing the way for his successor to oversee a “British Gas style” public sell off."

RBS boss Hester "desperate for people to have to borrow to eat"

From the BBC and the BBC:

Royal Bank of Scotland is "desperate" to lend to UK households who need to "borrow money for food", the bank's chief executive has claimed.

One in five UK households borrowed money or used savings to cover food costs in April, a Which? survey says. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Stephen Hester said RBS was sitting on £20bn in cash but economic worries meant businesses were not borrowing, so the RBS was seriously considering a move into payday loans.

"We are lending as much as we can," he said, adding that the bank could not "force companies to borrow. But it's not enough. If only the government could find a mechanism to push people's wages down and push rents up, then we'd be able to tap into a whole new market."

The Which? survey suggests the equivalent of five million households used credit cards, overdrafts or savings to buy food. Partly state-owned RBS reported a return to profit in its quarterly results on Friday. It announced pre-tax profits of £826m and said it lent a total of £13.2bn in the first three months of the year - £7.8bn of it to small businesses.

But like other banks it has abandoned its stated aim of supporting the UK's economic recovery by increasing business lending further because of far more lucrative lending opportunities, such as people's need to put food on the table.

The consumer group tracks the spending habits and behaviours of 2,000 people every month. Which? boss Richard Lloyd described the findings as "shocking". RBS boss Stephen Hester described the findings as "a godsend". The government said tax and benefit changes meant working households were now better off, while working households reported the opposite.

H/t BobE.

"Nonsense": Stephen Hester calls for Sir Mervyn King to be split up

From The Evening Standard:

Stephen Hester today called for the Sir Mervyn King to be split up within a year to end the "nonsense" of state interference in the banks it owns.

In a dramatic intervention, the Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland said the Bank of England Governor risks a prolonged Japanese-style slump in bank bonuses if he keeps telling the high street lender what to do. Sir Mervyn would have to be split into a "useful idiot", able to resume his role as a robust lender to banks and other financial institutions, and a "bad goat" saddled with the worst debts and used to carry them away into the desert, far from the eyes of G-d.

Achieving it would be complicated but the challenge was "not beyond the wit of our finest surgeons."

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