Comment: Question mark over RBS's commitment to Scotland STEPHEN Hester insists the Royal Bank of Scotland is on the road to recovery, but a quick look at the list of pitfalls ahead suggests 2013 will not mark the completion of his five-year plan. He was parachuted into the chief executive's chair in October 2008 to replace Fred Goodwin, but in spite of improved trading and a decent operating profit cannot disguise what lies beneath. The payment protection insurance scandal is now the biggest mis-selling outrage ever to hit the banks, and RBS alone has been forced to set aside £1.7 billion to compensate victims. By the time RBS unveiled third-quarter figures on Friday morning, PPI was already being pushed aside to focus on those other misdemeanours yet to be resolved, chief of which is the fine over the rigging of Libor, the inter-bank lending rate, which Hester hopes to have settled before he unveils full-year results in February. But there are other outstanding issues, including alleged mis-selling of interest rate swaps to small businesses and the legal claim over the 2009 rights issue. Many of them will lead to follow-on claims. Somewhere on this long "to-do" list is dealing with the independence issue. Given the immediate problems of sorting out the balance sheet, settling legal claims, compensation for mis-selling, and appeasing belligerent regulators and angry taxpayers wanting their money back, it is unlikely that the separation soap opera will be taking up too much boardroom time. But RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton hosted a reception in Edinburgh last week at which he made a few pointed remarks that got tongues wagging. He made it clear that RBS is neutral on independence, but his reference to the importance of domicile prompted talk about whether RBS was really committed to Scotland. He was referring to a debate among European regulators on whether small countries will be capable of providing the much stronger safety net that will be required to support big banks. Neutrality, or not, the implications are clear. M&S pins hopes on womenswear A RECENT rebound in consumer spending could not have come soon enough for Britain's struggling retailers - none more so than Marks & Spencer, whose ambitious chief executive Marc Bolland is desperate for some good news. Figures for September and October showed an uptick in sales on the high street, encouraged by falling inflation and a raft of new gadgets hitting the shops ahead of the Christmas rush. But it is women's clothing that is on the mind of the M&S boss as he hopes to convince investors and shoppers alike that he is getting on top of the chain's biggest problem. Since arriving from Morrisons he's invested heavily in redesigning the stores, but competitors such as Debenhams and Primark have been snapping at M&S's heels. Even so, he is expected to tell the market on Tuesday that he has slowed the slide in sales, although how much of this is because of the company's own efforts and how much is down to improving consumer sentiment is unclear. Bolland has refreshed his top team in an effort to reinvigorate the all-important womenswear range, but he needs a quick lift to placate irritable shareholders and head off a possible tilt at the company from predators who may fancy their chances of picking up M&S at a bargain price.