Business Diary: Shareholder group does the splits

Britain's army of small shareholders do not always get the respect they deserve, so the launch of the UK Individual ShareholdersSociety, a new group to represent their interests, is welcome. But hang on, don't we already have such a body in the form of the UK Shareholders' Association? And wasn't it run by Roger Lawson, the chap behind the UKISS? Yes, is the answer to both questions. Our spies tell us there was a falling out at UKSA, prompting Lawson to go it alone.

A new landlord for Goldman

Goldman Sachs, the fabulously successful investment bank, inhabits a building in London owned by a company in receivership. Now its Peterborough Court home on Fleet Street, which Goldman has leased until 2026, is up for sale. You'll need £300m if you're serious about becoming the bank's new landlord, as well as a business plan to help you fare better than Jesta Capital, the Canadian property business that owned the building before defaulting on loans last year.

Let the lovebirds get on with it

If your staff get a little frisky this Valentine's Day, leave them be. That's the advice of Croner, a specialist in workplace practices, which asked YouGov to find out what people think about their employers having rules on office romances. While a few employers require staff who become involved with each other to disclose their relationships to their boss, 44 per cent of people in the YouGov survey said they would be outraged if they were subjected to this sort of rule. A further 23 per cent said they would be disappointed.

The FSA dreams up nightmares

It's fun but scary at the Financial Services Authority. The regulator's latest initiative is to force Britain's banks to undergo new stress tests, as part of which they have to work out how they would be hit by a number of "fatal" events. Someone at the FSA is on imagination overtime dreaming up potential scenarios. So far, they include a flu pandemic that kills the bank's workforce, a coup in Latin America that wipes out its operation there, a trade war between the US and China, and a food price inflation-inspired social revolt.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk