City profiles

Tim Throsby

No prizes for guessing where Barclays chief Jes Staley has sourced his latest star recruit, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. The bank’s new head of investment banking, Tim Throsby, comes from Staley’s “old shop”, J.P. Morgan. “They usually do.” Since taking over at Barclays last year, three out of five of Staley’s top hires have been Morganites. “It’s been a quiet takeover – though not necessarily one that will upset investors.” Staley’s latest “mini-me” is described as a “Posh Australian” by one Antipodean, who jokes that “the bar isn’t set very high”, said Jonathan Guthrie in the FT. But he’ll need application to turn around Barclays’s most troubled division. “Membership of an alumni network can help you get into a job. Without results, it cannot keep you there.”

Robin Birley

The “gentle giant” at the heart of Mayfair’s social scene for the past 30 years is “rarely seen” without his whippet, Arnie, says the FT. Birley is also a key figure in the modern City. His private members’ club, 5 Hertford Street, and Loulou’s, “its naughty nightclub sibling”, is where business and society mix. Behaviour is much better than in the old days, Birley notes: “If you turn up with a hangover two days running, you get fired.” Another big difference is that 85% of his club members are self-made, unlike the upper-class crowd who used to flock to his father’s clubs, Annabel’s and Mark’s. “I’ve had to relax the dress code as people are more casual. I am changing the policy… so members can wear smart trainers.”