THE CITY OF LONDON & FINANCE

Bodies

The Futures & Options Exchange

Historically, the London Commodity Exchange traded in cocoa, coffee, and sugar.

In 1987 the Exchange moved to London Docklands.

It became the London Futures & Options Exchange ( Fox ).

Website: www.theice.com/futures-europe www.intercontinentalexchange.com

Companies

Did you ever expect a corporation to have a conscience, when it has no soul to be damned, and no body to be kicked? - Lord Thurlow.

Jessel Securities

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Oliver Jessel's (1929-2017) Jessel Securities was a high-profile conglomerate. At its peak it was worth 400m. It fell victim to the 1974 crash.

Slater Walker

Jim Slater (1929-2015) was a chartered accountant who suffered a debilitating illness. During this time he sought to earn money by using his savings to corner the market in rare Australian stamps. He developed a number of techniques to enable him to execute the project. He then sought to apply these to the stock market. He developed what he terms the Zulu principle . That by reading all the given books on an obscure subject an individual could make himself an expert on a specialised subject. He applied to young companies. For a couple of years he wrote a very successful share tipping column in The Daily Telegraph newspaper. With Peter Walker, an insurance executive, he set up Slater Walker Securities in 1964. The business specialised in taking stakes in undervalued companies. The business acquired a reputation for being an asset-stripper.

Walker developed political ambitions and was to go on to be a Conservative Cabinet minister. Therefore, Slater Walker became increasingly dependent on Slater. He sought to reinvent the business as a bank. However, a rise in oil prices triggered the secondary banking crisis of 1973-5. The Bank of England had to intervene. Slater was convicted of minor offences under the Companies Act. His career as a business heavyweight ended. He was a minus millionaire . He went on to pay off his debts. His subsequent activities included being a best-selling children's author.

Companies Acts

The politicians who supported the creation of the Companies Acts in the mid-19^thC included William Gladstone and Robert Lowe. Lowe termed the resulting companies as little Republics.

The British legislation was imitated extensively.

EuroDollars

The Glass-Steagal Act of 1932 limited the amount of interest that American banks could pay on dollar accounts in the United States. The EuroDollar market developed in Europe. The City London took command of this. This development helped its rebirth.

The Gibbs Family

The source of the Gibbs family's wealth was South American guano. The fact was commemorated by the music hall rhyme: Mr Gibbs / Made his dibs / Selling the turds / of foreign birds.

The Government Broker

The Senior Broker to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt was known as the Government Broker. It was customary for the Government Broker to be the senior partner of Mullens & Company. In 1786 Pitt appointed the first Government Broker from the firm that was the ancestor of Mullens. There is a ritual in which the Broker attends meetings at the Bank of England wearing a black silk top hat in order to convey information about changes to the Minimum Lending Rate to the Stock Exchange.

In 1982 the 6^th Lord Cromwell, the Government Broker, died in a riding accident. His successor was Sir Nigel Althaus (1929-2007) of Pember & Boyle (founded 1878), Mullens principal rival. Because of the Big Bang City reforms in 1986, he switched to being in the Bank's employment. Althaus was the only holder of the post to be more involved in debt redemption than new issues - thus fulfilling the office s title.

Upon Althaus's retirement in 1989 his duties passed to the head of the Bank of England's gilts division.

Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AR. The Bank of England (orange, turquoise)

Investment Banks, etc.

J.P. Morgan

Cazenove

In 1819 the broker John Menet hired his brother-in-law Philip Cazenove, a Huguenot. Four years later the latter was made a partner in the firm.

Philip Cazenove developed a close working relationship with the Rothschilds. The relationship took the business into deals across the world. In Britain Cazenove (the firm) was involved in the financing of sewage and underground railway projects.

Following the Second World War the nationalisation of the steel, railway, and coal industries stripped Cazenove of most of its clients. The firm had to rebuild its client base. It did this successfully, developing a diverse portfolio.

Matters of dress formed part of the informal behaviour code within Cazenove. The most effective way to avoid promotion was to wear brown shoes to work. Dressing down involved sporting one's old school tie on a Friday. During an interview a candidate once enquired whether he might take off his jacket. He was informed that potatoes had jackets but that gentlemen wore coats.

In 2004 Philip Cazenove retired as the firm's head of fund management. He was the last member of the family to be working in the business. He was a great-great-great-grandson of Philip.

In 2004 J.P. Morgan bought a half-share in Cazenove with an option to acquire the rest. Five years later it exercised the option and took the firm into its sole ownership.

Rothschild

The story that Nathan Rothschild was the first person to know about the outcome of Waterloo is a myth. It derives from an anti-Semitic pamphlet that was published in Paris in 1848. The document's author signed himself Satan . Friedrich Engels was one of the people who repeated the falsehood.

Baron Lionel de Rothschild underwrote the Irish Famine Loan, the Crimean War Loan, and in 1875 lent the government £4m with which to buy the Khedive of Egypt's shareholding in the Suez Canal Company.

Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009) opened the partnerships to non-family. The first of these was conferred upon David Colville.

The government borrowed 20m to compensate slave owners. This was 40% of state expenditure at the time. Nathan Mayer Rothschild orchestrated the loan. The interest on the loan was finally paid off in 2015.

Samuel Montagu

In 1980 Staffan The Viking Gadd (1934-2017), a Swede, was appointed to head the Samuel Montagu, accepting. In doing so he became the first foreigner to head a merchant bank in the City.

S.G. Warburg

S.G. Warburg launched the first hostile takeover.

See Also: FOOD Lunch, S.G. Warburg

Lawyers

In the 1950s a new generation of financial and property entrepreneurs emerged. Their legal needs were serviced by City of London solicitors such as Stanley Berwin, David Freeman (1928-2015), and Leonard Sainer.

London Stock Exchange

In 1970 the Stock Exchange admitted its first non-British member. He was Prince Abbas Hilmi, a scion of both the Egyptian and the Ottoman royal families.

Location: 10 Paternoster Square, EC4M 7LS (red, yellow)

Website: www.londonstockexchange.com

Off-Shore Banking

The Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 arranged for the creation of a series of institutions and practices that sought to ensure that governments were not subjected to the will of international capital. Two and a half decades of strong economic growth ensued. It curbed much of the international flow of capital. This meant that the City of London found its role in these transfers much reduced. The banker Sigmund Warburg appreciated the scope for using money that had been parked in banks in Switzerland. In 1962 he charged a couple of his most able employees with finding ways of accessing this so that it could be leant out. The resulting Eurobond effectively circumvented Bretton Woods. As a result, the off-shore banking industry began to develop.

The Serious Fraud Office

Location: 2-4 Cockspur Street, SW1Y 5BS (orange, purple)

Website: www.sfo.gov.uk

Unit Trusts

Municipal & General Securities

In 1931 Ian Fairbairn (1896-1968) founded Municipal & General Securities. The firm pioneered unit trusts.

Unicorn Securities

The U.K.'s first unit trust company was set up by Edward du Cann (1924-2017) and Peter Walker Lord Walker (1932-2010).

Du Cann and Walker set up Unicorn Securities, a pioneering unit trust business. Du Cann became a Conservative M.P. and served as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. He was the Chairman of the Conservative Party's influential backbench 1922 Committee from 1972 until 1984. He was also the Chairman of Keyser Ullman and was closely associated with Lonrho. The satirical magazine Private Eye was given to referring to him as du Cann of Worms . In 1993 he was declared bankrupt.

David Backhouse 2024