The dastardly Mr Deedes
Panmure Gordon analyst Peter Smedley is likely to be giving his office a wide swerve on the weekends. Smedley, a suave-ish sort and expert on retail matters, recently made a rare Sunday visit to the brokerage firm’s (unmanned) building, for what he intended to be a brief stopover. Having repaired to the lavatories on the firm’s trading floor shortly after 2.30pm, he found himself unable to exit after the internal door handle had fallen off. There the poor fellow remained trapped for 16 hours, until he was discovered by a member of staff rolling in to work at 6.30am the following morning. A colleague reports: ‘Peter’s been given a day’s holiday in loo for his pains.’
In a rare public relations boost for bankers, Metro Bank’s Craig Donaldson has been named the UK’s most popular chief executive in an anonymous poll. The downy-cheeked Wearsider, 43 – the scamp looks barely out of short trousers – is described as the sort of boss who’s ‘not afraid to get his hands dirty’. He answers to the bank’s president Vernon Hill, 70, a brash Yankee and avowed dog enthusiast who anointed his beloved Yorkshire terrier, Sir Duffield, the firm’s chief canine officer. Also a decent cove by all accounts, albeit a tad certifiable.
Cantor Fitzgerald announced the retirement of Richard Redmayne after three years as the US brokers’ European chairman. Invariably described as an old-school City gent and all-round straight-shooter, the selfconfessed workaholic, 77, was previously head of corporate broking at Seymour Pierce. Despite his illustrious CV, handsome Richard, 77, is better known these days as the father of weedy-looking Oscar-winner, Eddie Redmayne.
Following Japanese bank Nomura’s axing of 600-odd staff from its London operation in April, it’s reported that a number of family photographs, items of clothing and professional mementos were left behind in the hurry to frogmarch workers from its opulent eco-friendly offices near London Bridge. The assorted knick-knacks are in storage awaiting collection. A cruel-sounding bunch.
Wishy-washy ex-New York mayor and financial media billionaire Michael Bloomberg, 74, describes his ideal employee: ‘I would like to hire a person whose father was never there, whose mother was in a drug treatment program, and he had to go and work three shifts a week at McDonald’s to take care of his siblings.’ Wonder how many of the 3,000odd suits in Nanny Mike’s London operation fit this gritty description?