How the City’s mega-rich spend their Christmas

From shooting parties to Harrods shopping sprees, London’s wealthiest financiers will do anything to show off, finds Lucy Burton

The Christmas season has a well-deserved reputation for overindulgence, from hulking turkeys to copious amounts of wine and a gift budget that seems to stretch higher every year.

But to reach the giddy heights of spending in the City of London takes an altogether different order of appetite for excess.

There’s the unknown hedge fund tycoon who once spent £71,000 on alcohol at a nine-person festive knees-up. The £30,000 shooting weekends where deals are done in the snows of Scotland or Northumberland. And for a present, what could beat a £12,000 suit so you look sharp on the first day back in the office?

For the City’s ultra-rich, Christmas is a time to splash out even more than usual. From Harrods shopping sprees to lavish parties, this is the silly season where London’s wealthiest financiers will do anything to show off.

“I just paid £30,000 for a day of shooting with some hedge fund managers and chief executives – I always get work out of it, but never expense it,” says one City adviser who asked not to be named.

“The bonding is very good because you’re doing something potentially dangerous, you’re bouncing around in a van. It’s considered to be highly exclusive and getting an invitation is very prized. There’s the snobbish social climbing barrier – people who make a lot of money in the City want to hob-nob with lord whoever – it’s the crossover when a lot of money hits the English gentry.”

This desire to feel you’re in with the in-crowd is not unusual, especially if that crowd could tap you up for work. According to high-end concierge service Quintessentially, requests for a special experience have doubled in the last year as those with money to burn look to host one-of-a-kind events.

Corporate golf days, the City adviser says, are being replaced with more unusual, expensive outings in the race to host the most memorable party.

As a result, financiers across London have written up Christmas wishlists that go far beyond gourmet hampers (Fortnum & Mason’s £6,000 package has already sold out), luxury crackers and five-star skiing holidays. Requests to Quintessentially from financiers have included building a private ice rink in a garden in central London, hiring a Michelin-starred chef for a family cooking lesson, and recreating the Lego Christmas tree in the Savoy (believed to have taken 2,200 hours and 372,931 Lego bricks to build).

One senior investment banker adds that the presents he’s heard colleagues buying this Christmas include an electronic fireworks launcher, a peacock (“peacocks are very fashionable”), game cookbooks (“perfect for the banker who shoots”), and a champagne sabre so the lucky recipient can open bottles with a sword at parties. Although bonuses are expected to shrink this year as banks slash costs due to slowing economic growth, negative interest rates and a lack of big deals, it is clear many do not want to scrimp on an annual blowout.

Those expecting a doughnut bonus – industry term for nothing all – might be inspired by the ex-jp Morgan commodities trader who has put his New York Board of Trade jacket and badge on ebay for $150,000 (£116,000).

That would pay for almost 2,000 fleece Patagonia vests, a staple part of the banker uniform, or 300 Moncler “Banker Vests” (there’s currently just one left on the Harrods website).

Alex Riley, the Fielding & Nicholson tailor photographed leaving Deutsche Bank’s London office after a fitting for senior staff on the day thousands of traders lost their jobs, says demand in the City has barely shrunk this Christmas despite redundancies. Suits at the upmarket tailor can cost about £4,500, with Riley saying his most expensive order racked up to £12,000.

“Demand is still there, maybe a little lower due to Brexit,” he says.

“Dinner suits need to be ordered in September or October to be ready in time for the party season, but that being said I think a few end-of-year bonuses [have been] paid and I have a number of clients who refresh their wardrobe in November or December.”

This ostentatious splurging is at odds with financiers’ reluctance to admit to spending anything out of the ordinary, given the public furore over bankers’ pay since the 2008 financial crisis. This is already reflected in bank Christmas parties, which have gone from being large, legendary events to small team drinks. Those who weren’t among the 18,000 cut at Deutsche Bank this year said their Christmas party included a night at the curry house or “a few of us going to the pub”.

“I don’t really do big gifts. Most City types just put their money into second homes,” says a City veteran who is staying in a lavish palace for the Christmas season.

The resentment over City pay was highlighted just after the crash when Gerald Dickens, a direct descendant of Charles Dickens, called bankers the spiritual successors to Scrooge in A

Christmas Carol due to the massive bonuses they were still pocketing. “My great-great-grandfather would have been completely frustrated and he would not have stopped until he had seen something done about it,” he said. Ten years on, investors are still fighting against financial institutions paying their bosses huge sums, with pension payouts this year slashed for banking chief executives.

As a result the unwritten rule is that excess needs to happen behind closed doors, at private parties or “VIP” events, or on philanthropic projects. City tycoon Michael Spencer, for example, is spending Christmas on his plot of land in Kenya where he has armed guards looking after 200 critically endangered black rhinos.

At a time of overindulgence, perhaps the best way to stand out is by doing something virtuous.