The Notebook: Talking down the City? Not a bit of it in this newspaper standing up for the city One of the delights of this job is the ability to sit down with people from across the Square Mile and ask them very simple questions. One of the perennials is “what keeps you up at night?” The CEOs you’d really want to work for say “people”. That one who said “the fact we’re going [...]
City needs a whole ecosystem to attract the best and brightest reforms and advances Soft power success or waste of time and money? We’re more inclined to side with the Lord Mayor than some on Twitter when it comes to the weekend’s festivities. Clearly, the coronation was always going to kick off an almighty debate on the role of the Royal Family in the twenty-first century; but regardless of [...]
FRC begins hunt for new boss as audit body advertises role with £330k salary (and to be able to work from both London and Birmingham) FRC job advert The boss of Britain’s audit regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) will need “credibility, integrity and capability” to enact “organisation change”; they can also expect to be paid £330k plus benefits for doing so. An advert for the next chief executive of the FRC, which will soon become ARGA confirms previous City A.M . reports [...]
Me? A Bank CEO?: First Direct’s boss on his unusual route to the top February 7, 2023 CEO of First Direct Chris Pitt speaks with City A.M.’s Editor Andy Silvester about his unusual route to the top of the bank and setting his sights on even loftier ambitions for Britain’s young people First Direct boss Chris Pitt and I are walking down towards City A.M.’s offices near Monument. It’s a walk down [...]
Marble Arch mound architects slam “nonsensical” premature opening and “barbers” in UK media for negative publicity February 10, 2022 The Dutch architects behind the universally panned Marble Arch mound have hit out at Westminster City Council, the UK media, the builders of the mound, English Heritage and Historic England for the project failing to live up to its promise. In a post on their website, architects MVRDV say “anyone who visited the Marble Arch [...]
A lack of direction at the top has left Boris vulnerable to scandal January 14, 2022 Since being elected in 2019 on a new brand of Conservative politics, Johnson has completely failed to add meat to the bones of precisely what this means. Without a safety net of coherent politics, a checklist of achievements to wave at his many critics, Johnson is more in danger of being waylaid by scandals than [...]
Terry Smith has a point – and the rest of the City should listen too January 13, 2022 Earlier this week we called for more plain speaking in the business world. Terry Smith, the legendary fund manager, has rarely needed such a nudge. Unilever, he said in his letter to investors this week, has “clearly lost the plot.” Smith’s beef was an effort to define the purpose of Hellmann’s mayonnaise. Regardless of whether [...]
Fintech fail: Home Office bars start-ups banked with Revolut from visa sponsorship licence January 11, 2022 The fintech revolution is sweeping through Government – but it appears it hasn’t yet hit the Home Office, which bars start-ups who bank from Revolut from acquiring a vital visa sponsorship licence. Recently-founded businesses looking to gain a licence to “sponsor” foreign workers through the government’s new visa system must submit evidence of a corporate [...]
Britain’s financial future needs catch-up plan for young workers January 10, 2022 If lockdowns have taught us anything, it’s not to underestimate the power of a holiday. Two weeks on the beach feels like a valuable reward after two years of mentally draining restrictions. It is not surprising that travel companies are reporting an uptick in the booking of ‘big’ holidays. Part of that, of course, is [...]
Lack of support is untenable, and the Chancellor must know it December 17, 2021 The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has played a bad hand very well since taking the job in February 2020, just as news of a strange and mysterious virus was beginning to bother the front pages. It has helped that he has been playing with the equivalent of house money – borrowing huge sums in what became, [...]
