Bank reshuffle raises issues at Burberry – Editor’s Letter March 1, 2015 Sir John Peace is widely admired in the City and until recently held positions as chair of both the emerging markets bank Standard Chartered and the fashion group Burberry. Until last week, those who expected him to give up one of those posts so he could give more time to the one he kept, had [...]
Why beauty is still everybody’s business – Editor’s Letter February 26, 2015 THE IDEA that high finance and successful commerce are the enemies of cultural flourishing has never made sense. From the banker-patrons of the Florentine Renaissance, to modern collectors and philanthropists, there’s a rich, living tradition in which making money and making beautiful things go hand in hand. Yet it seems we still need reminding. And [...]
A better future – if we embrace growth – Editor’s Letter February 19, 2015 WHO owns the future? With the Eurozone apparently powerless before the once unthinkable prospect of a Greek exit, and with Ed Miliband’s Labour trying to drag British politics back to the 1970s, optimism seems to be as weak as winter sunshine. Yet I found a new source of hope this week, in the Pew 2014 [...]
Bannister should tell all about HSBC – Editor’s Letter February 16, 2015 Clive Bannister is a very companionable dinner guest, rightly proud of his achievements in business and of his father Roger, who became the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. He is just as proud, possibly more so, of his father’s achievement in going on from his success on the sports [...]
Too much discipline, knot enough romance – Editor’s Letter February 12, 2015 Perhaps, whatever Ed Miliband says, Britain likes the idea of being dominated by a successful businessman with a dark side. With the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey in cinemas from tonight, DIY stores are stocking up on rope and cable ties, anticipating a surge of curious customers inspired by the big screen action. [...]
Sky reveals it is still hooked on top football – Editor’s Letter February 10, 2015 THIS was the auction that Sky dared not lose. The satellite broadcaster has built itself on the back of live football and although it’s now a much more broadly-focused business than it ever was, the appeal of the Premier League is still what convinces hundreds of thousands of subscribers to stick with the service come [...]
Who’s Bill? The question is, whose bill? – Editor’s Letter February 5, 2015 Who’s Bill? It is the question of the week, after Ed Balls’ senior moment on Newsnight. Balls struggled to recall the name of one supporter from the world of business, a moment that became symbolic of Labour’s new antagonistic stance toward the corporate sector. In Prime Minister’s Questions, an unrepentant Ed Miliband went on to [...]
New issues market gets off to a slow start – Editor’s Letter February 4, 2015 After a cracking 2014 in London’s new issues market, this year was always going to be tricky, with expectations higher than usual. At the beginning of the year many bankers envisaged a pretty strong list of companies coming to the market in the early part of the year before petering out around May, because of [...]
FCA boss Martin Wheatley is right to say sorry at last – Editor’s Letter January 27, 2015 Martin Wheatley evokes a lot of hostility, rather than respect, from many of the senior figures in the London’s financial community. A few months ago one chief executive pulled me aside and blamed the City’s top regulator for costing London the flotation of Alibaba, the giant Chinese internet group. Wheatley’s crime, I was told, was [...]
Firing the bazooka down the road – Editor’s Letter January 22, 2015 Mario Draghi got stuck waiting for a lift on his way to announce the ECB’s bond-buying programme yesterday, which feels like a metaphor for something. Still, when he shouldered his bazooka at least its long-delayed bang did manage to be bigger than expected. But with European government bond yields already at historic lows, a grand [...]