The latest annual report and accounts of SG Kleinwort Hambros Bank Limited (KHB) , which encapsulates the private banking and wealth management activities within the UK and Channel Islands of Paris-based Societe Generale (SG), provides a very flattering view, not least as far as profits are concerned.

However in this instance the view is occluded. And not just because the latest accounts and financial statements are effectively the first full-year accounts to be produced in the aftermath of the merger between SG Hambros and Kleinwort Benson.

The fact is, as Note 1 to the accounts points out, “the company is exempt fro...