Business Diary: Tepper defends his reputation

Hedge fund manager DavidTepper was yesterday forced to deny suggestions that he was the customer who withdrew $400 (?250) from a bank in the Hamptons. The gentleman in question left his receipt behind and some wit has now published a picture of it.

On the debit side, the saver's $400 withdrawal is noted, plus a whacking administration charge of $2.75. Happily, there's enough in the account to cover the debits – a positive balance of $99,864,731.94 to be precise. What's really upset the hedge fund mogul is thesuggestion he would be dim enough to park ?100m in a low-interest savings account.

Not everyone is a loser at Lloyds

In March, Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Lloyds, said he was delighted to have former boss Eric Daniels on hand for advice until the end of September following his departure on 28 February. At the time, Sir Win said: "His knowledge of the group and our customers will, I am pleased to say, remain available to the board and myself as required until then." What a relief, and well worth the ?600,000 plus pension and perks Mr Daniels will be paid in that time. So how many times has Sir Win availed himself of Mr Daniels's expertise so far? "We haven't had occasion yet to call upon him," was Sir Win's reply yesterday.

Why William Hill is cursing Lagarde

Christine Lagarde won the International Monetary Fund job easily enough in the end, much to the chagrin of some members from developing countries. Still, there is one aspect of this appointment that everyone, surely, will agree is positive – the bookies took a bath on it. Specifically, William Hill priced Ms Lagarde's candidacy far too generously in the early days of the contest – offering 20/1 to begin with. Losses ran into five figures.

Goldman's special offer in Ukraine

It isn't just retailers that are prepared to offer customers loss-leading promotions – banks are getting in on the act too. Goldman Sachs has watched from the sidelines as the Government of Ukraine has raised more than $40bn from asset sales over the past decade – and never had so much as a sniff of the action. Now it is to offer the Government advice on financial policy – at no cost, naturally.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk