HSBC’s Ewen targets the silent majority
SO, AN early pitch from HSBC’s interim chief executive Noel Quinn to land the top job permanently: he’s moving to cut 10,000 jobs. That might impress chairman Mark Tucker, a man not afraid of ruffling a few feathers. Internal competition for Quinn comes from finance director Ewen Stevenson, poached from Royal Bank of Scotland by Tucker. Stevenson is said to be alarmed by the stifling bureaucracy at HSBC. He has started making a list of how many people sit in his meetings, and how few of them actually say anything. Heads will roll. Deputy heads, anyway.
THE pace of change at the top of corporate Britain is unlikely to slow, says David Buik of Core Spreads. There were four resignations from FTSE 100 companies last week, not all of them actual resignations. Who’s next for the chop? Dear old Buik sticks the knife in thusly: “I suggest Steve Rowe and Mike Coupe of M&S
A SPRINKLE of showbiz at Hipgnosis Songs’ recent capital markets day. Boss Merck Mercuriadis hosted Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart and Giorgio Tuinfort, who has written for Ariana Grande, alongside hitmaker and board member Nile Rodgers. The company, which buys back catalogues of hits to get new revenues out of them, is trying to raise £300 million for its next spending spree after an acquisitive 2019. Judging by this rooftop snap, Mercuriadis clearly has his foot ready to hit the accelerator pedal. and Sainsbury’s respectively have suffered badly from the change in retail culture and the emergence of greater competition from Aldi and Lidl as well as online services. Their share prices have been clattered and it may not be long before ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls!’”
THE former head of comms at Deutsche Bank’s fund management arm DWS, Johnny Weir, has moved to become interim head of PR at City fund manager Hermes. Weir must know his new employers quite well: Hermes was one of the most outspoken critics of excessive pay and poor conduct at — you guessed it — Deutsche Bank.
PLENTY of bleary-eyed workers in London yesterday morning. Pubs group ETM tells Spy its Greenwood sports boozer in Victoria had booming trade between 7pm and 10pm on Sunday when the first NFL game at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium was shown. Takings were around £1000 higher per hour compared with a year earlier when no American footie was shown.