At the end of this month I will escape financial journalism, my professional home for the last six years – four covering pensions and asset management for Institutional Investor Euromoney and two writing about the financial adviser side for the Financial Times.
I’m still not entirely sure how I got into the industry in the first place – recession employment desperation mostly – but the wages allowed me to keep on living in London, the perks kept me sweet and the subject matter got more interesting the deeper I got.
But as much as I can’t complain about this period in my career, I did develop some coping strategies to deal with the inevitable boredom that creeps in while regurgitating endless product launch press releases, or sitting through conference speeches on the outlook for structured bonds.
One of my most prized possessions after all these years is a scrap of paper containing the best names I’ve come across during my time in the financial markets. So as a final farewell to this sector that’s treated me so well, I’d like to pay tribute to these men and women with a wee list:
[Obviously there are even sillier names out there in other professions – the Olympics have once again thrown up a few beauties – but these really tickled me]
Trevor Panther, director at FG Watts Financial Advisers
Mike Fullalove – global head of funds at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management
Leyland Otter – chief investment officer at the Merseyside Pension Fund
Richard Bongo – managing director at BNP Paribas
Jonathan Zoob – pensions and benefits manager at Societe Generale
Curt Custard – head of investment solutions at UBS Global Asset Management
Nigel Bottom – UK pensions manager at Motorola
Randall ‘Randy’ Outlaw – director at Deutsche Bank Securities
Rocky Fishman – director at Deutsche Bank
Ayo Salami – chief investment officer at Duet Asset Management
Algernon Percy – managing director at Waverton Investment Management
Jo Kitcat – managing director at BNY Mellon
Kevin Snowball – chief executive at Vietnam Asset Management
Tom Morrow – managing director at Alix Partners
Ilonka Waterdrinker – director at Well PR
Hugh Titcomb – chief executive at Thomas Miller Investment
Gabriel Surprise – regulatory data analyst at New York Stock Exchange
Tizzy Vigilante – managing director for wealth management Australia and NZ for IRESS
Please feel free to regale me with the greatest names you’ve come across in your profession.