Lord Mayor urges City to reach out
NICK Anstee, the newly-elected Lord Mayor, will tonight embark upon the unenviable task of attempting to repair relations between the City and the wider public, in a speech at his inauguration banquet at the Guildhall.
Anstee, a senior director at law firm SJ Berwin, will reiterate that the Lord Mayor’s job is to speak for the City. But he will add that those who work in London’s financial services industry “should remember that there are no longer walls that surround our citadel”.
“For decades the wider British public showed little interest in the City, although many enjoyed its fruits. Now, everyone has strong, sometimes angry, views on what should be done to reform – or even to punish us,” Anstee will say.
But he will add that the City needs to learn from its mistakes, demonstrate that it is a positive part of wider society and regain the trust between the people and financiers.
“We need to re-establish a contract between the City’s financial institutions and the society they serve. This is right because society, the tax-payer, has just picked up an enormous bill for failings…We must learn from our mistakes – and need to in order not only to survive but to thrive. “
Anstee, a trained accountant, took office on Friday as the 682nd Lord Mayor of London.