.
LONDON, England /
The Guardian / Business / Comment / February 7, 2010
By Ruth Sunderland, Business Editor of The Observer
The old boy network is alive and kicking -
and thank goodness for that.
If there's one thing the financial sector needs at the moment,
it's a bit of grey wisdom
WARREN BUFFETT, the world's greatest investor, models himself on a lady called
Rose Blumkin, who after arriving in the US as a penniless immigrant, built North America's largest furniture business. When Buffett bought her company he rapidly realised he would have to tie her to a non-compete agreement, despite her age of 103. His ambition, as a relative youngster of 78, is to follow her example.
The US boasts a number of grey grandmasters including media tycoon Sumner Redstone, 86, Las Vegas entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian, 92, and the octogenarian central banker Paul Volcker, who has recently made a comeback, as we report on page 7 opposite. In the UK we are strangely reluctant to embrace age and experience: the average age of board members here is a mere 57 for men, and 55 for women. It is not clear why the Americans should be so much more wrinkle-friendly, though the US has had anti-age discrimination laws since 1968, which may have influenced attitudes.
Sir Brian Pitman, 78, is one of the few veteran bankers in the UK to be still active on the front line: the former chair of Lloyds TSB now chairs Virgin Money, which has recently obtained a banking licence. Pitman's successors at the former big five high street players came from a very different mould. It might not be coincidence that those at the most crisis-ridden were hailed as prodigies: Sir Fred Goodwin reached the top of RBS in his early forties after advancing rapidly at Touche Ross and the Clydesdale; Sir James Crosby was in his forties during his glory days at HBOS and his protege Andy Hornby, pictured, is still the right side of 45. The price of losing the older generation was that folk wisdom was ditched: people forgot that while they could grow a bank at the stroke of a pen, the catch was that they had to increase their risk.
Pitman has the radical idea of installing managers in branches who are actual bankers, and can talk to customers knowledgeably about their finances. Next thing you know these old boys will be wanting to lend only to people who can pay it back, or for banks to avoid risks they don't fully understand. [
rc]
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
By Ruth Sunderland, Business Editor of The Observer
The old boy network is alive and kicking -
and thank goodness for that.
If there's one thing the financial sector needs at the moment,
it's a bit of grey wisdom
WARREN BUFFETT, the world's greatest investor, models himself on a lady called Rose Blumkin, who after arriving in the US as a penniless immigrant, built North America's largest furniture business. When Buffett bought her company he rapidly realised he would have to tie her to a non-compete agreement, despite her age of 103. His ambition, as a relative youngster of 78, is to follow her example.
The US boasts a number of grey grandmasters including media tycoon Sumner Redstone, 86, Las Vegas entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian, 92, and the octogenarian central banker Paul Volcker, who has recently made a comeback, as we report on page 7 opposite. In the UK we are strangely reluctant to embrace age and experience: the average age of board members here is a mere 57 for men, and 55 for women. It is not clear why the Americans should be so much more wrinkle-friendly, though the US has had anti-age discrimination laws since 1968, which may have influenced attitudes.
Sir Brian Pitman, 78, is one of the few veteran bankers in the UK to be still active on the front line: the former chair of Lloyds TSB now chairs Virgin Money, which has recently obtained a banking licence. Pitman's successors at the former big five high street players came from a very different mould. It might not be coincidence that those at the most crisis-ridden were hailed as prodigies: Sir Fred Goodwin reached the top of RBS in his early forties after advancing rapidly at Touche Ross and the Clydesdale; Sir James Crosby was in his forties during his glory days at HBOS and his protege Andy Hornby, pictured, is still the right side of 45. The price of losing the older generation was that folk wisdom was ditched: people forgot that while they could grow a bank at the stroke of a pen, the catch was that they had to increase their risk.
Pitman has the radical idea of installing managers in branches who are actual bankers, and can talk to customers knowledgeably about their finances. Next thing you know these old boys will be wanting to lend only to people who can pay it back, or for banks to avoid risks they don't fully understand. [rc]
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
