No shortage of literature for banking bookworms this month
RECENT City A.M. award winner and property giant Westfield welcomed the Prime Minister’s wife to their Shepherd’s Bush store yesterday. Samantha Cameron, ambassador of Save the Children, gave a special reading of The Snail and the Whale at Foyles Bookstore to a group of children from Larmenier & Sacred Heart primary school.
But for grown-up readers in the City looking to tackle some more challenging literature, The Capitalist is pleased to report that the first ever City Book Fair will be held next month in Bishopsgate. This Hay-on-Wye of the Square Mile will include talks from authors such as Sir Howard Davies, former executive chairman of the Financial Services Authority, and the aforementioned Greg B Davies of Barclays and Vanity Fair fame. Details and tickets at www.citybookfair.co.uk
■ HALIFAX was getting into the spirit of Halloween festivities prematurely yesterday when it announced a £1,000 cashback offer for first time buyers on certain new mortgage deals. The lender suggested that customers use the windfall for “welcoming the neighbours with a Halloween themed flat-warming party”. The Capitalist doesn’t know what kind of Halloween bashes mortgage directors at Halifax throw, but inflation on silly string and plastic spiders must have substantially rocketed since The Capitalist last entertained on All Hallows’ Eve, to justify dropping £1k on a house party.
■ THE memorial service for Andrew Heath, who died on 1 September at the age of 53, was organised by his close friend and client Mark Burgess, chief information officer of Threadneedle. It was attended by many City “old hands” from Numis Securities, Arden Partners, Oriel Securities – where Heath was head of sales – and a number of Scottish fund managers, who had travelled down for the service. One of the latter was Steve Adams, head of UK equities at Kames Capital, who yesterday told The Capitalist: “Andrew could turn a dull day in the market into a fun one”. Another former colleague said: “The reception at the City of London club was in full swing when we left – I am sure Andrew would have approved.”