NatWest share sale was a chance to improve the city’s reputation: ALEX BRUMMER

Amid the uproar surrounding Rachel Reeves’ expenses audit, two reports by the City regulator designed to boost London’s competitiveness as a financial centre have gone largely unnoticed.

Under the leadership of Nikhil Rathi, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has taken steps to end the box-ticking requirement, making it easier for potential investors to access financial markets.

The FCA’s efforts reminded me of a recent conversation with the chairman of a venerable City private bank.

He recalled a visit by a well-known Gulf emir who wanted to move up to £1bn of his personal wealth to London.

The banker then asked the tycoon to fill out a lengthy questionnaire to prove he was a suitable client.

The Emir was so irritated by the investigations into his personal life that he stepped down and declared he was leaving for JP Morgan.

Episodes like this show how quickly undecided investors can be put off by City rules.

Despite my promises of simplicity, it took me months and hours last year of filling out forms to transfer assets from one platform, Hargreaves Lansdown, to another at Evelyn Partners.

All of this is one way of explaining why the Government was wrong to have intercepted retail sales of NatWest shares.

Now that NatWest is paying dividends again and its share price, up 40 percent since the start of the year, is healthy again, there has been little trouble getting government-owned shares to big investors.

The idea of ​​a “Tell Sid”-style retail sale, with the associated consulting and promotion costs, seemed less relevant.

However, at a time when the government is seeking to revive capital investment in London, NatWest’s retail sale was an opportunity to boost the City’s reputation as a place for bold initial public offerings (IPOs). NatWest had already spent £24m of shareholder funds on the preparation.

It may be easier and cheaper to turn to institutions. Taxpayers, who bailed out his predecessor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, with £45bn in 2008, deserved the chance to get back in at a substantial discount.

Reeves and the Treasury have missed an opportunity.

They could have fuelled a sub-octane IPO market, propped up Britain’s biggest small- and medium-sized business bank and rewarded taxpayers after a difficult 16-year wait for a full return to the public markets.

Low spirits

What’s going on at Diageo? For several years, the British supplier of spirits and stouts ranging from Johnnie Walker to Guinness has been performing strongly.

It has invested heavily in Scotch whisky, grown in difficult global circumstances, pioneered new brands and invested in trendy drinks such as Casamigos tequila.

Since Texan Debra Crew was promoted to the top position following the premature death of her admired predecessor Ivan Menezes, everything has gone down the drain. In Latin America, an overstock problem has emerged (now resolved).

And now sales in North America, where the company gets 40 percent of its revenue, are on the rise.

The company has reported its first drop in sales since 2020. Crews attribute the decline to cost-of-living pressures.

American purchasing power was certainly boosted during and after the pandemic by the checks the U.S. government sent to everyone with a Social Security number.

Brands such as Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff Vodka are permanent fixtures in global beverage consumption.

What may be more worrying for Diageo and other alcohol companies is the trend among young people to stop drinking alcohol. That is one of the reasons why Carlsberg is axing Britain’s Britvic.

It is also true that spirits can be a trendy business. Gin, rum and tequila have all ridden the wave and no one knows what will come next.

mad Men

The choice of the restive former BT chief executive, Philip Jansen, to be the next chairman of marketing giant WPP may raise eyebrows.

It is usually the chairman’s job to sack the chief executive so that Mark Read, the successor to creator Martin Sorrell, can look back on his laurels.

At BT, Jansen proved to be a tough guy, and managed to turn things around by ousting chairman Jan du Plessis. Jansen’s love of leisure and his experience in private equity are worth keeping a close eye on.