During Big Bang, the head of a tiny bond brokerage announced a multimillion-pound buyout offer to colleagues with the words: “We have just been kissed by the Holy Ghost.”
London’s pre-eminence as a financial centre was a lasting legacy of the deregulation of the City in 1986 under Margaret Thatcher . “The City was on a slow burn until then,” says Brian Winterflood, chairman of securities dealer Winterflood Securities and a City professional since the 1950s. “A lot of people argue against Big Bang but it was what put us into the top tier.”
The changes were emblematic of Thatcher’s determination to elbow aside vested interests. Diversified US investment banks, such as Merrill Lynch and Chase Manhattan, were allowed to buy traditional UK securities dealers, triggering an influx of capital that London deployed to pull clear of continental rivals. Within months, the bulk of share trading had moved online. Long, boozy lunches fell from fashion. In the Square Mile, a new era had dawned.