British entrepreneur Nick Candy is best known for working alongside his brother Christian to create One Hyde Park, a residential development in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge district and home to some of the world’s richest people. When sales opened in 2007, the building was smashing world per-square-foot price records. In this week’s episode of In the City, Candy tells David Merritt and Francine Lacqua that his next project in Dubai will beat those records. 

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The luxury industry is booming. Just look at the latest figures from LVMH and Hermes. Or as Harrods Managing Director Michael Ward says in this week’s episode of In the City, observe the foot traffic in his storied London department store. While mid-market labels are feeling the squeeze, super-brands like Chanel and Dior are thriving, Ward explains. “The great thing about the luxury industry is it’s price insensitive,” he says. “The rich get richer, and that’s the world.” 

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Most of the recent headlines out of Paris focus on strikes and protests. But underneath the heaps of rubbish that were piled up on the city’s streets (and possibly again soon), is an increasingly important hub for global finance. In recent months, we’ve seen big banks like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup expand their presence in the French capital, ushering in a new reality for the landscape of European banking.  

Francine Lacqua and David Merritt discuss Paris’s growing appeal with reporter Alexandre Rajbhandari and editor Tom Metcalf, and unpack the challenges facing President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business agenda with Paris Bureau Chief Alan Katz. 

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The outlook for the UK has improved in recent months, with a technical recession now looking like it will be avoided, according to Bloomberg Economics. In fact, the team sees GDP growth in 2023 of 0.1%, up from -0.4%. 

Jim Mellon, chairman of Burnbrae, is predicting an even brighter picture. In this week’s In the City, he tells hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua to look out for 1 to 2% growth this year, thanks to a more stable government, an influx of migrants and gas prices falling sharply.

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Jim O’Neill, the former UK Conservative minister and Goldman Sachs chief economist, says he doesn’t miss being in banking. And no, he wouldn’t accept an offer like we saw with Sergio Ermotti returning as chief executive at UBS. But when asked on this week’s episode of In the City whether he can explain what’s happening in the industry right now, he’s got some ideas. He also weighs in on the race to buy Manchester United, questioning whether the football club is worth its more than £4 billion price tag. 

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Another week, another bank in crisis. This time it was Credit Suisse. After tense talks, UBS agreed to buy its former rival in an all-share deal worth about $3.25 billion. With the Swiss government-brokering the sale, Credit Suisse’s 166-year run came to a sudden end.

In this week’s In the City, host Francine Lacqua is joined by Bloomberg TV’s Manus Cranny, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Paul J. Davies and reporter Marion Halftermeyer to explain the bank’s fall from grace. They also discuss details of the deal, what happens next for Credit Suisse employees, the challenge facing UBS and why Chairman Colm Kelleher is the person to watch right now.  

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In this week's In the City, the outgoing Legal & General CEO calls for a new focus on business education and talent. He also shares a life lesson from turning down an offer to be CFO at Apple.

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“Silicon Valley Bank was a darling of the industry. So clearly it was a very dramatic weekend.”

Bloomberg Wall Street reporter Sonali Basak’s observation leads off this bonus episode of In the City, where she joins fellow reporter Mark Bergen and hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua to unpack the shocking collapse of SVB, the biggest failure of a US bank since 2008, and what happens now.

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London is going through a difficult time, according to Stanhope Capital founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Pinto. 

Why? Its investment appeal is dwindling—a fact made clear by a range of companies choosing to list elsewhere. The trend has been developing for some time, and bodes ill for already-flagging UK initial public offerings, says Pinto. While noting that London remains a leading financial center, he warns it has lost its competitive edge.

In this week’s episode of In the City, Pinto tells hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua why he thinks London has been losing out. Brexit wasn’t helpful he concedes, but that’s not the only reason. The key factor is that the pool of money available for investment in British public markets has shrunk. That can be fixed with changes to regulations and pension fund reform, he says.

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The Manchester United bidding war has focused a lot of attention on the eye-watering prices attached to certain football clubs.

A member of the Qatari royal family and Britain’s richest man submitted offers for the English football giant. The Qataris’ opening offer—roughly £5 billion ($6 billion)—might break records. But still, it may not be enough. This week news broke that the current owners, the Glazer family, think the latest offers could be too low. 

In this week’s episode of In the City, reporter David Hellier joins hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua for a conversation about the competition to own Manchester United. He says don’t be surprised if more bids surface, and reflects on why the race to own the team feels different from last year’s competition to own Chelsea. 

We’re also joined by Dan Jones, a sports business adviser and former Global Lead Partner for Sports Business and Head of Sports Business Group at Deloitte, and Christina Philippou, principal lecturer in accounting, economics and finance at the University of Portsmouth. They discuss why buyers are so confident in their investments, whether prices will keep growing and where Wall Street banks fit in.

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