Jeremy Warner's Outlook: More wild rumours among the banks

It was another round of wild rumours in the banking sector yesterday, even though share prices were in the round in healthier mood. Both Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBOS, and John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, were said to be collecting their P45s.

Both rumours were vigorously denied, as indeed they would have to be given that HBOS and Barclays are in the middle of highly challenging capital raising exercises. It wouldn't do to lose a chief executive half way through.

It is testament to how fragile conditions have become that such speculation is readily believed. Things are now so wild that anything seems possible. For the time being, both Mr Hornby and Mr Varley live to fight another day. All the same, it seems unlikely that Steve Crawshaw, the luckless former chief executive of Bradford & Bingley, will be the last casualty of this bizarrely unorthodox banking crisis.