The Anonymous Widower

Protests: When’s It Time To Go Home

I haven’t really been thinking much about the protests in the City of London.  In truth, I think they are rather pointless, as the power of the City and the bonus culture will be broken in a few years. Or as far as they affect the general public they will.

Just read this article on the BBC web site, which talks about when it’s time to go home.

But why do I feel that the city protests are pointless?

The clearing banks are finished for a start, as new technology and clever web sites will increasingly take over their work. As I say often on this web site, I use Zopa to manage my long term money and get just under 6% before tax. The only other thing I need is a simple on-line banking account to manage my cash and standing orders.

In the next few years other ideas will emerge and many of us will not need a clearing bank any more. As my friend David said many years ago, banking will shed jobs with gay abandon. But the City will create new industries and many will need lots of people like those being laid off by the banks.

An interesting insight was a couple years ago, I found a company organising on-line shopping for the cargo ships that wander the world. It is based near the City because it is close to the skills, customers and companies it needed to setup. These sort of ideas will gravitate to the City if we have the right environment and create jobs and income for London. Why do you think Silicon Roundabout is just north of the City. rather than in Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle?

January 20, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | Finance | Banks, Politics, Zopa