In the City

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 and gender equality. In this week’s In the City, the leader of the world’s largest publicly listed hedge fund joins hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua in a conversation about the importance of diversity in the City, and how far the UK financial industry has come in terms of recruiting from a bigger pool of talented people. One of the areas Ellis says needs more attention is “social mobility,” which he calls “the last bastion of open prejudice.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 for global investment banks and blue-chip credit funds.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 and Giulia Morpurgo, who discuss big names that have already gone bust—like Matalan and Paperchase—and others that may be at risk.  Plus, reporter Leigh-Ann Gerrans gives a tour of the retail scene around the City. Get The Brink newsletter, chronicling corporate distress and turnaround stories. Sign up now: https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/the-brink See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 scene. He launched the company in 2016 with £1 million of his own money. The company’s name reflects its mission, he said: develop new technology that can make banking 10 times better than what it is. It was most recently valued at about £600 million.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 with the earnings he generated. Advani discusses the UK’s current tax structure and where there’s room for improvement. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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 opportunity to present the Labour Party as the UK’s future. Aldrick joins hosts Francine Lacqua and David Merritt to discuss what attendees of this year's Davos conference are saying about the UK. They also discuss the major agenda items — the war in Ukraine and the Inflation Reduction Act in the US — as well as what the conversations in Davos mean for the City, and whether Manchester United’s decision to take over one of the shopfronts on the promenade is an attempt to expand its fan base or its roster of potential investors. Meanwhile, there's something else worth talking about: Is the Davos forum's influence a thing of the past?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.com/listener for privacy information.

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 least 3 days a week and why a lot of talent is looking to work outside of London.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 house prices, said senior reporter Philip Aldrick. It’s unemployment. The reporters also discuss their expectations for consumer spending, real wages, and the Tory government’s chance of dodging a general election in 2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.