Business Diary: A new Mar-low-e for Deutsche Bank

Germany's Deutsche Bank has taken quite an interest in its employees of late. Perhaps a bit too much, as allegations that it hired private detectives to spy on staff – including a board member – as well as shareholders have landed them in hot water with the regulator.

Rather than bring in a whisky-soaked gumshoe in the style of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe – seen right played by Humphrey Bogart, with Lauren Bacall – the bank is accused of hiring women to approach shareholders in bars to find "personal weakness", according to reports in Germany. The private dicks were also paid to watch out for information leaks. The bank is co-operating with the authorities as it no doubt hopes to say "Farewell my Lieber" to its regulatory woes.

Wood Group fights the battle of the bulge

There will be absolutely no talk of fat cats at the oil services company Wood Group in the next few months. Allister Langlands, the FTSE 250 company's chief executive, is leading the move to cut the carbs as the entire management team starts a 10-week weight loss plan. Some have espoused castor oil for its healthy properties and others macadamia oil as a way to lose weight, but this must be the first time North Sea oil has been used to beat the bulge.

Ryanair in upstanding money-making plan

Publicity-shy Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, above, has announced that passengers could soon be standing on flights as he looks to save costs and pack in more punters. Whether this bonkers idea is a genuine proposal or just another opportunity to grab some headlines isn't immediately clear, much as the Diary still isn't sure whether Ryanair plans to charge £1 for use of the lavatory. The one benefit to O'Leary's new idea is that passengers will no longer have to sit in Ryanair's comfort-light seats.

'The award for worst company goes to ...'

There's less than 10 days to go before ShareCrazy.com unveils the winners of this year's Worst Company Awards. At one of the few ceremonies where none of the winners is likely to show up, RBS is the hot favourite as it has been nominated in six out of the seven awards.