The Bank of England in the City of London (Yui Mok/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)THE scene as surveyed from 1 Lombard Street on Thursday afternoon almost looks old normal.
Some folk at the City bar and restaurant just near the Bank of England are lingering after a long lunch. (Some of them should go home).
Some are meeting over mineral water to discuss trading strategies. There’s a few dressed in pinstripes, as if Covid, lockdown and WFH never happened.
Bless you sirs.
But some numbers to disrupt this happy picture.
Dealogic says new companies have raised just £574 million of new funds in the last nine months, a paltry amount that means investment bankers are starved of activity.
UK companies valued at £41 billion have been taken over by foreigners during the same period, a reflection of the weakness of the pound.
And of the fact that foreign investors value UK plc more highly than our own stock market.
At that rate, there won’t be a London market to argue and trade over before long.
Numis, the City bank that is a true London success story, had grim figures today.
Revenue for the year is likely to be down 33% compared to a record 2021.
The bank says: “The macro-economic and geo-political environment remain highly volatile and predicting the timing of any improvement in capital markets activity is very difficult.”
That is code for: job cuts coming, and not just at Numis.
The cap on banker bonuses is being removed at the exact time those bonuses are going to disappear for many.
Outside of the City, no one will weep for bankers. Them doing badly is not helpful for the rest of us.
