By: Christian May

Editor-in-Chief Christian May is the Editor-in-Chief of City AM. He served in the role from 2015 to 2020 and returned in 2024. He writes the daily Editor's Letter for print and online and releases The Week in Business roundup video each Thursday. He is particularly interested in the health of London's capital markets, economic policy, politics, regulation and business activity in the City of London. He regularly appears in the broadcast media and presents a daily Business News slot on LBC at 0730, Monday to Friday. Find Christian on X and LinkedIn.

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Chancellor faces tough job as virus fears grow

March 9, 2020

Sajid Javid never got to deliver a Budget, and now his successor will this week unveil one of the most important in decades. Wednesday’s statement was meant to be a showpiece for a government determined to “level-up” the economy and flex its newly-won Commons majority. While ministers are still hoping to regain some political initiative [...]
It’s on: Khan v Bailey will be a chance to scrutinise the leading candidates

March 6, 2020

Four years ago I chaired the first head- to-head debate between the mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith. It was a dramatic encounter, with the Labour candidate (and current London mayor) laying into his rival for the Tory campaign’s descent “into the gutter.” Just days before the debate, Goldsmith had launched a stinging attack [...]
New Bank governor seems open to battle of ideas

March 5, 2020

Andrew Bailey will take the governor’s seat at the Bank of England later this month amid a global health emergency that threatens to undermine the world economy and shape the Bank’s course of action for many months to come. So pressing is the issue that Bailey has effectively started work early, telling the Treasury Select [...]
The world’s biggest economy is scared

March 4, 2020

The final weeks of 2019 saw the traditional flurry of analysts and market commentators raising the prospect of so-called black swan events in 2020. Looking back through these notes today, one is confronted with a range of nightmare scenarios ranging from military conflict in the South China Sea to the collapse of a major investment bank [...]
Barclays forgot about the humans in HR

February 21, 2020

Barely a day goes by without a think tank, employers’ group or minister talking about the need to improve the productivity or British business, and while this generally conjures up images of factory floors it’s reassuring to know that investment banks are also searching for elusive gains. How else to explain the decision by Barclays [...]
The government is taking a gamble with its immigration reform

February 20, 2020

The Brexit pennies just keep on dropping. First there was a mixture of genuine and feigned shock when the government announced it would not align itself with EU regulations. Now, the publication of a new immigration strategy has some people up in arms at the prospect of reform. But with the UK leaving the EU [...]
HSBC’s drastic reforms still leave the big questions unanswered

February 19, 2020

Noel Quinn may only be an interim chief executive at HSBC but there’s nothing temporary about the sweeping changes he announced yesterday. The dramatic reduction in headcount goes further than the 10,000 figure he floated in October last year, when he said “there is scope throughout the bank to clarify and simplify roles.” Now we [...]
David Frost doesn’t sugar-coat it for the EU

February 18, 2020

Trade deals are like sausages — it’s best not to see them being made. But while any UK-EU deal will certainly be the result of high compromise and low politics, Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator popped his head out of the factory door last night to offer some thoughts on his recipe for success. David Frost, [...]
Labour looks destined to sit out the next 10 years in political wilderness

February 14, 2020

On Monday Lord Michael Ashcroft published a detailed and searingly honest critique of the Labour party’s failed 2019 election. Based on polling and focus groups of former Labour voters, he painted a picture of a party that had drifted so far away from the values and aspirations of ordinary people that its drubbing was inevitable. [...]
Sajid Javid opts to go down with the ship

February 14, 2020

Just under three months ago, Boris Johnson promised a room full of business leaders that Sajid Javid was guaranteed to remain in office as chancellor. He praised Javid and gave a “categorical” commitment to the CBI conference that he will remain in post. Yesterday, Javid was told that if he wanted to keep his job [...]

Barclays’ high street U-turn exposes a divide in British banking

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The Lake District but thrilling, with yacht trips and 4×4 off-roading

By: Christian May

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