Guy Hands is, perhaps unsurprisingly, bearish on the UK . The famous financier and chairman of private equity firm Terra Firma says Britain is in a “sort of geriatric decline,” with its post-Brexit business outlook and investment case getting worse every day. Hands tells David Merritt and Francine Lacqua on this week’s episode of In the City that if the UK maintains its weakened relationship with the European Union, it’s destined to be poorer on a relative basis than the bloc. Hands, who backed ...
May 19, 2023•24 min
The Confederation of British Industry is fighting for survival . Known for a half-century as the voice of almost 200,000 UK companies and having the ear of the government, the CBI is now in crisis. In this week’s In the City , reporter Sabah Meddings explores how a 300-employee organization that spoke out against sexual harassment is now unraveling as police investigate allegations of sexual assault . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 11, 2023•22 min
There’s a new investment playbook being used by central banks, one that spells opportunity for those who know the rules. This according to Alex Brazier, deputy head of BlackRock’s Investment Institute, who tells In the City that—for investors who can get granular in volatile markets—there’s money to made. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 04, 2023•27 min
British entrepreneur Nick Candy is best known for working alongside his brother Christian to create One Hyde Park, a residential development in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge district and home to some of the world’s richest people. When sales opened in 2007, the building was smashing world per-square-foot price records. In this week’s episode of In the City , Candy tells David Merritt and Francine Lacqua that his next project in Dubai will beat those records. See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...
Apr 27, 2023•25 min
The luxury industry is booming. Just look at the latest figures from LVMH and Hermes . Or as Harrods Managing Director Michael Ward says in this week’s episode of In the City , observe the foot traffic in his storied London department store. While mid-market labels are feeling the squeeze, super-brands like Chanel and Dior are thriving, Ward explains. “The great thing about the luxury industry is it’s price insensitive,” he says. “The rich get richer, and that’s the world.” See omnystudio.com/li...
Apr 20, 2023•21 min
Most of the recent headlines out of Paris focus on strikes and protests. But underneath the heaps of rubbish that were piled up on the city’s streets (and possibly again soon ), is an increasingly important hub for global finance. In recent months, we’ve seen big banks like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup expand their presence in the French capital, ushering in a new reality for the landscape of European banking. Francine Lacqua and David Merritt discuss Paris’s growi...
Apr 13, 2023•22 min
The outlook for the UK has improved in recent months, with a technical recession now looking like it will be avoided, according to Bloomberg Economics. In fact, the team sees GDP growth in 2023 of 0.1%, up from -0.4%. Jim Mellon, chairman of Burnbrae, is predicting an even brighter picture. In this week’s In the City , he tells hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua to look out for 1 to 2% growth this year, thanks to a more stable government, an influx of migrants and gas prices falling sharply...
Apr 06, 2023•26 min
Jim O’Neill, the former UK Conservative minister and Goldman Sachs chief economist, says he doesn’t miss being in banking. And no, he wouldn’t accept an offer like we saw with Sergio Ermotti returning as chief executive at UBS. But when asked on this week’s episode of In the City whether he can explain what’s happening in the industry right now, he’s got some ideas. He also weighs in on the race to buy Manchester United, questioning whether the football club is worth its more than £4 billion pri...
Mar 30, 2023•28 min
Another week, another bank in crisis. This time it was Credit Suisse. After tense talks, UBS agreed to buy its former rival in an all-share deal worth about $3.25 billion. With the Swiss government-brokering the sale, Credit Suisse’s 166-year run came to a sudden end. In this week’s In the City, host Francine Lacqua is joined by Bloomberg TV’s Manus Cranny, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Paul J. Davies and reporter Marion Halftermeyer to explain the bank’s fall from grace. They also discuss details...
Mar 23, 2023•25 min
In this week's In the City , the outgoing Legal & General CEO calls for a new focus on business education and talent. He also shares a life lesson from turning down an offer to be CFO at Apple. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 16, 2023•24 min
“Silicon Valley Bank was a darling of the industry. So clearly it was a very dramatic weekend.” Bloomberg Wall Street reporter Sonali Basak’s observation leads off this bonus episode of In the City , where she joins fellow reporter Mark Bergen and hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua to unpack the shocking collapse of SVB, the biggest failure of a US bank since 2008, and what happens now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Mar 13, 2023•24 min
London is going through a difficult time, according to Stanhope Capital founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Pinto. Why? Its investment appeal is dwindling—a fact made clear by a range of companies choosing to list elsewhere. The trend has been developing for some time, and bodes ill for already-flagging UK initial public offerings, says Pinto. While noting that London remains a leading financial center, he warns it has lost its competitive edge. In this week’s episode of In the City , Pin...
Mar 09, 2023•33 min
The Manchester United bidding war has focused a lot of attention on the eye-watering prices attached to certain football clubs. A member of the Qatari royal family and Britain’s richest man submitted offers for the English football giant. The Qataris’ opening offer—roughly £5 billion ($6 billion)—might break records. But still, it may not be enough. This week news broke that the current owners, the Glazer family, think the latest offers could be too low. In this week’s episode of In the City , r...
Mar 02, 2023•27 min
When Man Group Chief Executive Officer Luke Ellis started his career in the City almost 40 years ago, the square mile “had many of the worst aspects of the UK,” he says. It was just “a posh part of UK society that looked down on anything other than posh White men.” But in 2023, things are different. Although he cautions more progress needs to be made, especially at the senior levels, Ellis says “the City is now at least as good as the national average and probably better” when it comes to race a...
Feb 23, 2023•35 min
This week’s In the City focuses on a story that’s transfixed the global finance community for weeks: the Adani-Hindenburg clash. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Shuli Ren and Executive Editor Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam join hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua for a comprehensive discussion of the fraud allegations and the fallout. Aside from the obvious impact—Adani’s businesses lost $108 billion in a week—the crisis has shaken investor faith in India. Ren says that it’s acting as a “wake-up call...
Feb 16, 2023•23 min
The UK retail industry is having a difficult time of it. And when it comes to some high street brands, that’s an understatement. Similar to the US and Europe , retailers across Britain are dealing with soaring borrowing costs, shrinking savings accounts and a cost-of-living crisis that’s limiting consumer spending. This means more retailers may soon be on the brink of insolvency. In this week’s episode of In the City , hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua are joined by reporters Katie Linsell...
Feb 09, 2023•23 min
Antony Jenkins is building technology he wanted when he ran Barclays. The former chief executive served at the big bank for three very turbulent years , spending a lot of time wondering why there wasn’t a better way to automate its operations. When he left, he decided to find a way to do just that for everyone else. On this week’s In the City , Jenkins joins hosts Francine Lacqua and David Merritt to share his story of starting 10x Banking Technology, a key player in London’s growing fintech sce...
Feb 02, 2023•26 min
This week's episode is about UK tax. But trust us, it's interesting. Reporter Alex Wickham joins to assess the damage being done to the Tory party’s popularity as a result of Nadhim Zahawi's tax row. And David Merritt speaks with Arun Advani, an associate professor in economics at the University of Warwick and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He says people should be focusing less on why Zahawi paid the wrong amount of tax, and more how small the amount was when compared wi...
Jan 26, 2023•26 min
We continue our coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Francine Lacqua spoke with UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. She says the UK is open for business and discusses the bankruptcy of Britishvolt. Plus, Francine sat down with UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps. He discusses the government’s plans for British business and his concerns with President Joe Biden’s plan to subsidize clean energy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jan 20, 2023•19 min
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his chancellor Rachel Reeves arrived in Davos on Wednesday as they step up their business-charm offensive. As senior reporter Phil Aldrick puts it on this week’s In the City , they are there to build up their profile. While an appearance from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak might have been seen as “one billionaire speaking to other billionaires,” in the case of Starmer, who reportedly was invited by World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab himself, it’s an opp...
Jan 19, 2023•18 min
This year is off to a sobering start as bankers keep tabs on who is losing their job. Goldman Sachs is terminating about 3,200 people, one of its biggest rounds of cuts ever. This week on In the City , hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua explore the question of whether this is just the beginning of a broader retrenchment across the financial industry. They’re joined by Bloomberg Opinion columnist Paul J. Davies, who covers banking and finance, and senior editor Tom Metcalf. See omnystudio.co...
Jan 12, 2023•22 min
Things will get worse before they get better, according to Kevin Ellis, chair and senior partner at PwC UK. He says a UK recession is definitely coming and that some businesses will go under. But he also says that investment may rescue the "good bits of business early enough." Ellis tells David Merritt and Francine Lacqua on this week's episode of In the City that he sees signs the UK economy will come out of a downturn "quite quickly." They also discuss the merits of being in the office at leas...
Jan 05, 2023•26 min
In a conversation earlier this month, senior reporter John Stepek made a prediction: House prices in the UK will continue to fall—and fall. On this week’s episode of In the City , he joins David Merritt to give his reasoning. Stepek explains that rising interest rates and stubbornly high inflation are combining to push home prices ever downward. But that’s not the worst of it. When it comes to the most critical factor underlying the health of the UK economy, there’s a bigger threat than falling ...
Dec 29, 2022•24 min
It's the end of the year, so we figured it's the right time to look forward to the next. This week, a conversation with reporter Katie Linsell and columnist Andrea Felsted on the outlook for UK spending in 2023. They weigh the resilience of shoppers and retailers going into the new year as bills pile up and savings dwindle. Felsted says that while she's optimistic for Christmas, she's already pessimistic for the next one. And we start the show with reporters from across the London newsroom shari...
Dec 22, 2022•19 min
Brexit was never going to be easy -- we just haven’t really tried yet. That’s the view of prominent UK economist Gerard Lyons, who tells Francine Lacqua and David Merritt that he remains bullish on Brexit in the long run. Lyons is chief economic strategist at Netwealth and a former adviser to House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt. On this episode of In the City, he argues the City is still “pretty-well placed” after Brexit. Political crises since 2016, however, have prevented opportunities from...
Dec 15, 2022•30 min
Brexit has consequences. According to the boss of Europe’s largest exchange group, one of them is that London is no longer the region's dominant financial center. But that's not the worst of it. Euronext Chief Executive Stephane Boujnah tells David Merritt and Francine Lacqua that restrictions on the movement of people, and how that's changing the fabric of finance both in the City and across Europe, will do more damage. Also on this episode of In the City , editor Tom Metcalf discusses the dark...
Dec 08, 2022•26 min
A new development this week in the UK government's efforts to deregulate the City of London may be relaxing the ring-fencing around banks, according to a person familiar with Treasury plans. Editor Katherine Griffiths joins this week and asks whether the move is "a small whimper that they're packaging as a big bang." Plus, a conversation with the new Lord Mayor of London, Nicholas Lyons. He shares his vision for the City and says it's time to work together to take advantage of regulatory freedom...
Dec 01, 2022•29 min
Unequal pay in finance is no surprise to many who work in the City, but women might have a new tool for fighting it thanks to Stacey Macken, a former broker at BNP Paribas in London. Macken fought the French lender in court for more than eight years for equal pay, and now her victory may encourage a wave of other women to come forward. In addition to being awarded 2 million pounds after the tribunal ruled Macken had been a victim of “spiteful and vindictive” bosses, the tribunal also ordered BNP...
Nov 24, 2022•18 min
It's the story of the week. London is no longer home to Europe's biggest stock market. That prize has been taken by Paris. This week on the podcast, David Merritt speaks to reporter Joe Easton. He unpacks the numbers and reflects on the causes. We also cross the channel and speak to reporter Albertina Torsoli on how Paris made itself more attractive to foreign investors, and how that heightened interest is changing the Paris landscape. Read the story here . See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...
Nov 17, 2022•19 min
It's In the City in the desert. Francine Lacqua is in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, covering the COP27 climate talks. She sits down with Allegra Stratton, contributing editor and author of The Readout, as well as Akshat Rathi, senior reporter and host of the podcast Zero. They address the increasing skepticism surrounding the UK's commitment to its net-zero targets and the "show me the money" theme of this year's conference. Sign up for The Readout with Allegra Stratton here: https://www.bloomberg.com...
Nov 10, 2022•23 min
