ASK BRITONS what actually goes on in the City of London and you’ll be met with a blank stare. Trading the yen and the yuan, structuring derivatives and providing the world’s financial plumbing are all money-spinners, but they barely register in the public imagination. The exception is the stockmarket. Daily news bulletins report trading on the FTSE 100 index of leading London shares. Booms and busts are charted by its gyrations. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is the stamping-ground of giant multinationals, where city-slickers and corporate fat-cats thrash out huge deals to buy and sell the world’s companies. …
