NEW METRO BANK LURES IN CANDY BROTHERS
OFF to the preview party for Metro Bank’s new Holborn store on Wednesday evening, where anyone who was anyone gathered to drink champagne under the gaudy red-and-blue rafters and gush about the wonders of sugar-coated customer service.
Attendees included Meredith Whitney, the glamorous US banking analyst; Jamie Reuben, son of property magnate David; US investor Wilbur Ross – bizarrely enough, since he has already invested in Metro’s start-up rival Virgin Money; and Nick Candy, one half of the smooth-talking sibling property duo.
Actually, The Capitalist was rather intrigued to see Candy show up at the event, and quickly got to talking to one of the most senior members of Metro’s management team about the property mogul’s connection to the bank’s founder Vernon Hill.
“Why, the Candys have already taken a stake in Metro,” came the innocent reply. “I think it was around the same time as the Reuben brothers invested, actually…”
Now that, if our Metro man has his facts straight, is what’s known as letting the cat out of the bag. Candy himself refused to comment on whether or not a final deal has been struck, though he admitted the brothers have been mulling taking a stake in the bank for a while. Watch this space.
AIRBORNE DEVIL
The Capitalist didn’t have Icap boss Michael Spencer down as an adrenaline junkie, but it looks like he can be a true daredevil in his spare time.
Spencer was at the Farnborough Air Show last week, where the Blades – an air acrobatics troupe like the Red Arrows – were opening the show. As something of an aeroplane fanatic, the former Tory party treasurer jumped at the chance to go up with a Blades pilot after their official display, where he was subjected to loop-the-loops and other aerobatic trickery from a proper front-row seat.
BIRTHDAY BOY
Many happy returns to Les Ames, the head of dealing over at WH Ireland, who celebrated his big 6–0 yesterday at the Hatchet pub on Garlick Hill. City chums packed the boozer to pay their respects to Ames, who started out in the Square Mile at the tender age of 18.
Mind you, he did have a spell of respite in the middle of those four decades, spending a few years as a professional singer, starring in musicals and performing at the likes of the Royal Albert Hall. Guests at the bash yesterday could be heard guffawing loudly at a printed poster on the wall (see above), showing Ames in all the leather-jacketed, big-haired glory of his singing days.
BLUE IS THE COLOUR
The lessons from the recent financial crisis are clearly filtering down to bank bosses. The latest in a long line of firms to crack down on inappropriate or incriminating email communications is the mighty Goldman Sachs itself, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Apparently, the recent order banning the use of expletives on email was passed down from on high verbally – to avoid any embarrassing leaks, natch – and will be enforced via a special screening system.
There’ll be no more exchanges about “shitty deals”, then…