Just like its former bosses, BP can get back up to speed

Then there is Lord Browne, Hayward's predecessor who was at the helm for the explosion at the Texas City oil refinery in 2005. He is making his presence felt as the Government's lead non-executive director by sending civil servants in charge of big projects such Crossrail and the High Speed Two rail link to business school to brush up on their management skills.

And don't forget the company itself. BP has been through a near-death experience and appears to be emerging out of the other side. That is remarkable when 18 months ago it might not have had a future at all and instead been gobbled up by Exxon in a cosy deal struck with the American government.

BP's current chief executive Bob Dudley is just about getting the balance right, saying BPwill defend itself vigorously when lawsuits related to the Macondo well disaster begin later this month, but also managing to edge up the dividend.

Estimating the total cost of the spill is a tricky business. BP has upped the figure to $43 billion (£27 billion), although some analysts believe it could still be more.

Dudley can't sit on his hands while waiting to find out. He has to forge a leaner, meaner BP in the meantime. That way it can eventually regain its crown as the darling of British pension fund managers, held when it made up a sixth of all UK company dividends.

He won't do that with disposals alone. Nor will promising ventures such as the new North Sea Clair Ridge project sharply move the dial.

But if Browne and Hayward can find a way back, so can the company they left behind.

NAB's banking duo in deep water

There is nothing Cameron Clyne, the boss of National Australia Bank, loves more than going for a swim along the Sydney waterfront. But when it comes to these shores, his two British banks, Clydesdale and Yorkshire, are having to paddle harder than ever.

It was only last autumn that NAB was in talks to sell the pair to Lord Levene's start-up banking venture. That went nowhere, even before Levene failed to acquire a parcel of Lloyds branches he was intent on combining them with.

Now the Aussies have kicked off another strategic review of the division with the thinly veiled hope of flushing out a buyer.Worse still is NAB's prognosis of the deteriorating British economy which it blames for driving up bad debts. It casts a grim shadow over the banks' reporting season, which starts with Barclays on Friday - even before the business of dissecting bonus payments begins.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire have long struggled - not helped by the constant will they, won't they saga of when NAB will cut them adrift. It's possible they are not waving but drowning - or it may just be that achieving a lending recovery will be far tougher than we thought.