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'I am a barometer of the City. I follow developments, go for lunch, am on the phone a lot … People skills are everything'
We meet for lunch in Islington, the area where he bought his first house many decades ago. He is a good-humoured man in his late 60s, well dressed with graceful manners. Born in Canada, he grew up in England and started working in the City almost 50 years ago. He was a broker for many years and now works in PR. He chooses to drink water as he is scheduled to go on a radio show later that day. "I know there are people who drink before they go on air. I never do."
"You might say I am a barometer of the City. I follow developments, go for lunch with people a few times a week, I am on the phone a lot … People skills are everything in the PR business. I like to bring a sense of humour to my reports, or put in a sharply worded phrase here and there. People in the City and financial journalists receive stacks and stacks of paper every day. You need to stand out a bit.
"To succeed in the City as a top banker, you need five things. First of all, you need a first-class education. Then you must have a craving for money, to think money is really very important. You also need lots of testosterone, meaning you must feel this need to win, to rip the skin off somebody else's face if necessary. Then you must have a deep need for control, of your position in the market, of your colleagues, of your clients, of your competitors … Discipline is important, given the hours you make and the pressure you're under. Look at bankers these days. In the old days the caricature was of a fat man with a cigar in one hand and a glass of brandy in the other. In the current environment somebody like that wouldn't last a week. Today's bankers are a very focused lot. I'd be surprised if any of them drank even one glass of wine during the week.
"These are the five boxes, and very few people out there tick every one of them. Underlying it all I'd say there's a deep and very powerful fear of failure. That propels them forward. In the financial world, if you're a nice person, you don't get very far.
"A day in my working life: I get up around 4.30am. I watch some news, see what the Asian markets are doing, read my Reuters, Bloomberg, perhaps do some Skyping, make phone calls, watch or listen to the BBC. I am building an understanding of what is happening and what will happen. I write my report and, as the day progresses and the markets move, I may update it. Most days I throw in the towel around 6, 6.30pm. Unless there's more radio to do, then I might go on till 7 or 8pm. I have got an ISDN box at home so I don't have to go to the radio studio. The next day, it's 4.30am again, weekends included. I say, there's no point in doing this halfway. You have to go all out.
"I am in PR, which means my job is to draw attention to my employer – a brokerage firm.
"I have done well if my company is quoted. You can buy a few inches of advertising space in a newspaper for thousands of pounds. But if I go on the radio they mention my company and it's free. Same thing when a newspaper quotes a line from my report. My red line is anything that might damage my company's standing.
"I have had a very good life in the City. I used to work very hard when I was younger but never felt the urge to reach for the top: it's not worth it. I have always been a great fan of Margaret Thatcher. Because she lowered the tax rate it became possible for me to buy a house. In the old days the top tax rate was over 83%, while capital gains taxes didn't exist. What this meant was that rich people stayed rich because their investments in the stock exchange and elsewhere weren't taxed. But to work your way to wealth was almost impossible, what with the government taking more than 80%. Thatcher changed that. Without her reforms I'd be a clerk somewhere now."
Joris Luyendijk
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