A Bubble of Pomposity that needs Pricking
Justin Urquhart Stewart is going to take a pin to financial services bubbles … and we have no shortage of bubbles. He intends to challenge Real Time Club members with: how the financial services industry is a contradiction in terms for clients – you end up with poor service and no finance; how, from the platitudes of marketing departments to gambling with citizen’s savings, the track record of the financial services industry verges on the criminal. “We focus on a customer of one – you”, said one bank. That’s all they will have if they carry on like this, and that’s all they deserve. It’s not just about greedy investment bankers but the cancer of greed that has been endemic throughout the history of finance. Justin will look at a range of issues from the global stockmarkets right down to your ISA to highlight what has gone wrong and why – and more to the point what we should now all be doing to look after ourselves and our families.
Justin Urquhart Stewart
Having trained as a barrister, Justin took up corporate finance, working in both Africa and Singapore. He then returned to the UK and helped in the developments towards Big Bang in 1986 in London which led to him helping to found Broker Services in 1986. Broker Services went on to become Barclays Stockbrokers, where Justin was Corporate Development Director. In early 2001, he co-founded Seven Investment Management, an investment management business that innovated the UK investment market with the introduction of the first Sterling Investment Wrap Account. Seven Investment Management now manages and administers around £2 billion on behalf of professional financial wealth managers and intermediaries.
Justin has a keen interest in developing the investment market to break down as many of the traditional barriers as possible for both private investors and smaller companies. As part of this he was involved in the original development of the AIM market and the investor educational company, Proshare. He writes regularly for national magazines and newspapers, and is a frequent commentator on television and radio, both in the UK and abroad. He is married with one daughter, three cats and a motorcycle, with an interest in archaeology and writes short stories on the Roman Empire. In 2007 he was voted City Personality of the Year by Adnitor.