Abchat Weekly Wrap Up: By George, it's a Canadian

Wow… Who would have guessed that old Sir Mervyn King’s replacement would be the spitting image of Hollywood heartthrob, George Clooney? This is the chat circulating the tabloids about George Osborne’s latest appointment. Being compared to such a high profile and charismatic individual will bring about high expectations. To the broad sheet readers amongst you, this is really the key – whilst Mark Carney does come with some considerable pedigree, managing expectations will be his primary task. In his current role as the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Carney has performed an excellent job by keeping Canada relatively recession proof – which is essentially why his appointment is followed by so much expectation. George Osborne has also talked up Carney’s credentials by describing him as “quite simply the best and most qualified person in the world to be the next Governor”.

Carney will have some testing times ahead, notably the high possibility that he will witness Britain losing her AAA credit rating. It will be seen by the public as the Chancellor’s fault, however the spill-over effect this would have for Carney will be bad – mainly a fall in the pound. Carney would have to intervene on the Bank’s behalf very early on in his tenure – probably before he has gotten used to the different regulatory structure. Carney will also have to tackle corporation tax, and encourage more start-ups and entrepreneurs to come to the UK and give us the economic spark we need!

One has to admire George Osborne for this appointment, and maybe this will pave the way for more members of Her Majesty’s Commonwealth to help us in our hour of need.



Governor of the Bank of Canada announced as next Governor of the Bank of England

Key points of the Leverson Enquiry:

• New self-regulation body recommended
• Independent of serving editors, government and business
• No widespread corruption of police by the press found
• Politicians and press have been too close
• Press behaviour, at time, has been ‘outrageous’Underemployment affects 10.5% of UK workforce

Our CIPR Committee Member Jo attended the CIPR Corporate and Financial Group Annual Dinner with the very entertaining guest speaker Nick Hewer of Countdown and The Apprentice

We attended CBBC’s first webinar on Effective Due Diligence in China LINK

Abchicks enjoyed the Crowe Clark Whitehill Women in Business Christmas Shopping Event

We took some lucky guests to see Chelsea play Fulham at home, where the West London rivals played out a bore draw. New Chelsea manager, Rafael Benetiz failed to inject any testosterone into the ever declining Fernando Torres. This is now two points from a possible six (and still without a goal) for Rafa, who will have done himself no favours with Chelsea’s mid week showing.

Abchaps hosted a very interesting Market Lunch this week with guests from Cenkos, Cavendish, Dechert, Panmure Gordon, Reeves and Millnet Financial

Dechert has appointed Dmitry Kurochkin as a partner in the law firm’s dispute resolution practice. Previously head of litigation for central Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Herbert Smith, Kurochkin will be based in Moscow and will focus on litigation and arbitration matters.

Pinsent Masons has strengthened their corporate finance team with the addition of Jonathan Beastall, corporate finance specialist. He joins from Clifford Chance, where he was a partner for 19 years. Beastall specialises in advising clients on independent price offerings and other equity capital raising.

Cavendish Asset Management has appointed Liz Evans as director of portfolio management. She has been with the investment managers since 1987, and began as an analyst focusing on the UK before becoming a fund manager of their Asia Pacific Fund.

BNY Mellon has appointed Paul Solway as managing director and Regional Head of Equity Finance for Asia-Pacific (APAC). With over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Solway will be based in Hong Kong and will be instrumental in developing a strong APAC equity financing business.

“Ethical Vacuum” – Lord Justice Leveson’s damning view of the existence of social media and blogs

Ahead of the much talked about Rolling Stones 50th anniversary concerts, Hampstead’s Zebra Gallery is celebrating with a free exhibition that has many previously unseen photographs of the band.

Random International’s “Rain Room” at the Barbican is causing quite a stir. Visitors and able to control the rain through motion sensors in the floor stopping the rain from pouring on you as you walk around the room. On until March, entry is free but be prepared to queue.

This weekend you can see the Kind Henry VIII’s Tudor kitchens at Hampton Court Palace live in action. Historia food archaeologists are continuing their fascinating research project, experimenting with traditional recipes, ingredients and cooking methods.

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