IF/LAMWYK Webinar
The Intelligence Forums - Lamwyk Webinar, on 4 March 2021 was chaired by Ed Goodchild.
Our first speaker was Lord Jay of Ewelme, GCMG , a Crossbench member of the House of Lords, who has served on sub-committees of the House of Lords Select Committee on EU affairs. A former British ambassador to France and Permanent under Secretary at the FCO, he has held non-executive directorships of ABF, Credit Agricole, Candover PLC and Valeo SA, and is a Trustee of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company and Chair of the Advisory Council of the British Library.
Lord Jay told us that Brexit, has resulted in his involvement with EU issues during 2020 being particularly extensive. Reflecting on the UK’s current and future relationship with the EU, he believed it was naïve to think that leaving the union was the end of the story. Rather, he said, it is the start of a new chapter, and the UK’s long history associated with the EU will continue to be important. However, he expects there to be an increase in tensions between the parties in the short term.
40% of the UK’s exports are to the EU and this is likely to remain the case, although there will be adjustments. We are already seeing some in trucks returning empty to the EU from the UK, and the EU demanding test certificates on exports of UK fish. He feared that small fishermen will not easily adapt to EU regulation, and as a result the industry will become increasingly dominated by the larger players. He expected long-term changes in agriculture, manufacturing and services, too, which won’t be easy. For example, pre-Brexit, £25 of red meat was exported from the UK to the EU, for every £1 of red meat sold to Asia, so new markets will not easily be found. He believed that there would be further tensions within the UK food market if food is imported from the US under a future trade deal.
Musicians and others, will have difficulty with EU travel restrictions, and for this there is no obvious solution. He could not envisage that the UK could ever join the Schengen Area as a solution and questioned whether, in the light of the COVID situation, Schengen would even survive.
He expects that the Financial Services industry will experience significant change, but noted that this should not be considered as one discrete industry. It comprises multiple sectors, and these he suggested will disaggregate to compete openly with the EU. Some sectors will exploit regulatory freedoms outside the EU, he expected, while others compete within the bloc. This might risk “equivalence” rights, although whether that matters, he said, is not clear.
He sees the UK’s foreign policy focused on bilateral initiatives, and believes that it will be increasingly left aside as the EU aligns with the US.
He believes that for the Northern Ireland situation to work, it is impossible to avoid having either a physical land border or one down the Irish Sea. He warned that getting things wrong here could risk violence, and negotiations to resolve these current situation will require a different skillset than for the withdrawal agreement. While Lord Frost is an able and tough negotiator, he said, the sensitivities of the Irish situation “may be lost on him”.
He reminded us too, that for the past 40 years, devolution issues have been handled in Brussels. The UK must now deal with such matters itself, but it doesn't have the necessary mechanisms in place. Holding the union together, he believes, will actually require greater devolution, and the implication of Brexit therefore, is that the UK will actually become more of a federal state.
Our next speaker was Suzanne Todd, partner at law firm Withers, London where she leads the Family and Trust, Estate and Inheritance Dispute teams which deal with complex international financial cases, often involving family businesses, inherited wealth or sophisticated trust and pension issues.
She grew up in the Northern Ireland during the Troubles, read law with languages at Leicester, and spent an Erasmus year in Modena, Italy. In 1997 she became a trainee at Withers and ten years later, a partner. During the twenty three years she has been with firm it has fundamentally changed, and her knowledge of Italian has stood her in good stead. Not only has she delivered a number of legal seminars in Italian, but through this and her ability she has been instrumental in Withers growth to become the “go-to” family law and trust lawyers for Italians in London.
Passionate about promoting young talent in the workplace, she has won numerous industry accolades for her work as training partner for the firm. She has the Freedom of the City of London and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Solicitors and is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
Adam Craggs partner at law firm RPC, where he heads its Tax Disputes resolution group, spoke next. He is an accredited mediator, and has over 30 years' experience and he advises on a wide range of contentious tax matters (direct and indirect taxes), including HMRC enquiries, litigation before the Tax Tribunals/ Higher Courts, and white collar crime investigations.
He admitted that his career was not one that he had aspired to at school. Indeed, he “rather fell into tax” when he trained at what is now Penningtons Manches LLP. Here he gained broad experience, including in entertainment law, which “seemed interesting”, but ultimately became pigeonholed into commercial litigation. In 1990, despite having practised little tax law, he was attracted by an advertisement in The Times to join the Inland Revenue’s, Energy, Oil and Gas, International division. Although he only planned to stay for a 2/3 years it wasn’t until 2007, after the merger of the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise into HMRC, that he left to join RPC to head up its Pensions and Tax team and now its Tax Disputes resolution team.
He has been busy, noting noted that as HMRC clamp downs have increased over the past ten years, “tax planning” schemes have increasingly cost individuals more than doing nothing. While “repeat business” is not generally a client’s aspiration, but the business has grown through its reputation and recommendations.
Next to speak was Ronel Lehmann, Founder and Chief Executive of Finito Education (Finito), an organisation which helps first time job hunters to make the transition from education to employment, and bespoke career mentoring service and guidance to those already employed. Finito also works alongside educational establishments to offer collaborative courses to students nearing completion of their studies.
The seeds of Finito were sown nearly 30 years ago when Ronel took on his first role with the leading insurance recruitment firm - IPS Group. Here he encouraged individuals to draw on their strengths and weaknesses as well as recognising their likes and dislikes, in order to better match them with opportunities that really suited them. His subsequent career in the City included roles as stockbroker and public relations adviser with Citicorp Scrimgeour Vickers, McAvoy Wreford Bayley and Citigate Dewe Rogerson, before setting up his own agency Lehmann Communications. Founded in 1988 he ran it for the next 26 yrs.
In 2016, recognising the challenges faced by so many to find the right career, he launched Finito. Mentors, of whom there are over 60 across the country, are assigned to help potential candidates identify three career paths for which they have both passion and reason to pursue. Their CV’s are re-written by journalists to make them “sparkle”; they are coached through interviews, and trained on the use of LinkedIn, which he stressed is not a social media platform; and trained on employer’s use of AI to filter applications - something that schools do not offer.
Ronel feels that we fail to prepare young people for the world of work. Schools and universities are only focused on grades. Employability is not on their agenda and many universities are snooty about their brand. Some young people, he said, apply for 20-30 posts just because they are told to do so …… and they carry on applying regardless. Finito teaches them not to accept rejection and to go back to potential employers and ask for feedback and provide clarification.
He also added that many graduates are actually shy. They may have active Instagram profiles, but lack real experiences, and the confidence and social skills necessary to take a grilling from a prospective employer.
Such confidence comes in part from exposure to the outside world, and Ronel recalled how he had become a telex operative at the age of 13, while still at school, and how that opportunity arose through a week end job that he’d taken on a market stall. He remembered that many other parents were snooty about their kids taking weekend work, and fears that “helicopter parents” take the hunger from 13-year-olds, and sometimes stand in the way of them pursuing what they really want to do.
Our final speaker was Nick Lawson, CEO of Ocean Wall Ltd (OWL) a self-described provider of 'comprehensive advisory services to hedge funds and private companies around asset raising and investor relations.'
In his 17 years as a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank, London Nick built the No.1 rated Special Situations and Merger Arbitrage desk, and latterly became Global Head of Macro and Synthetic Equity. In 2015 he joined Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP as Partner, Head of Strategic Capital Solutions where he developed both close ties with many of the world’s leading asset allocators and a close understanding of their investment needs and targets. In 2009, he decided to utilise his 25 years of experience of running complex equity businesses and backed by four billionaire investors, established OWL.
Born in Brixton to young parents struggling to earn their own professional qualifications, he too worked as a youngster doing paper rounds but this did not prevent him from winning a scholarship to Dulwich College. In 1990, he deferred a place at university to take a role on the bond desk at Strauss Turnbull, then went on to read Economic and Social History at Exeter University, before joining Hoare Govett. Here he worked on transactions such as the IPO’s of France Telecom, Portuguese Utility Company, EDP, and Deutsche Telecom. In 1999 he was headhunted by Deutsche bank and “spent the rest of his career in niche stuff” such as refinancing British Energy’s Drax power company, setting up hedge funds and running the bank’s illiquids book.
He is a patient investor and looks for investment opportunities where the supply demand balance of the business favours the investor. One thesis for example, is that Chile will become the next Saudi Arabia. Why? Because 60% of the world’s economically viable reserves of Lithium (Li) are in the north of the country. Li is used in rechargeable batteries, and with the global demand for electric cars set to rise he believes that the price of Li will follow. He has backed his view with an investment in Lithium Chile, one of the largest landholders of lithium salt flats in the country.