Forward eBulletin - June 2010

“The days of large cash bonuses are over for good,” said Sir Nigel Rudd, former Deputy Chairman of Barclays Bank and current Chairman of Advisory Committee Barclays Wealth UK and Ireland Private Bank, who spoke on Monday (14 June) at the annual Birmingham Forward Roger Dickens lecture.

Sir Nigel continued: “Demonising bankers and banks might make us feel good but we need strong profitable banks. In turn bankers have to understand that in the present climate it is unacceptable to be paid so much without accepting personal risk. In terms of the financial crisis, all of us have responsibility.  We all borrowed too much and believed house price inflation would go on forever.  Bankers took too much risk and fund managers pushed for returns that could never really be there.”

“The UK should be home to the most well regarded, well run and well regulated banks of the world.  The city of London would continue to thrive.  Taxing banks excessively, and thereby reducing their capital, splitting them into smaller entities may be politically clever in the short term but in the long term it will be a huge mistake.  London will lose out and we will all be the poorer.”

Sir Nigel also shared his views on the importance of social mobility and its decline over the past decades. Both Roger Dickens and Sir Nigel were born in the era where talented individuals were supported and enabled to thrive. He highlighted the importance of an education system which recognises vocational training as equally valid to academic learning: “Social mobility lies at the heart of a thriving society.  Societies will always have an underclass and a good society will look after those who for one reason or another are disadvantaged.  There is no excuse however for making it difficult for talented people to rise not only economically, but socially up the ladder. ” 

The 2010 Roger Dickens lecture – the fourth in a series of annual events inspired by the late Roger Dickens, founder of Birmingham Forward in 1990 – took place at the International Convention Centre on Monday 14 June.  The event was held in partnership with the NEC Group and sponsored by Deloitte.

For more information about the event, please visit the Birmingham Forward Website.

Photo: Sir Nigel Rudd

Last week also saw KPMG tax partner, Jackie Hendley, accept the role of chair of Birmingham Forward.  Jackie, deputy chair since Graham Nicoll of Barclays Wealth became chair at the organisation’s 20th anniversary lunch in April (2010), said:

“Birmingham Forward would like to thank Graham for his continued involvement with the organisation and the real difference which he has made in his short time as chair and deputy before that.”

She continued: “Although being chair of Birmingham Forward is not a full time role, it is certainly a full time commitment. 

“Graham has very recently been offered the opportunity to take up the role of head of business development for Barclays Wealth.  This means he will be travelling away from Birmingham a great deal over coming months and will be unable to devote the time required to overseeing Birmingham Forward.

“As such, I am delighted to be able to take on the role of Birmingham Forward chair in this, the organisation’s 20th year.  I will be working closely with members to deliver on our three strategic themes – Brand Birmingham, transport and infrastructure, and people and development.  Our particular focus for the coming year will be on collaboration, working closely with Knowledge West Midlands, Marketing Birmingham, Colmore Business District and others to jointly achieve maximum benefits from inward investment in the city and promotion of Birmingham nationally and internationally.”

Graham Nicoll will remain on the board of Birmingham Forward and will act as an ambassador for Birmingham both in London and on his international travels.  

Birmingham Forward has set up a LinkedIn group for its member companies.  This is a value-added benefit of membership and it will allow you to engage in online discussions on important matters, comment on past and upcoming events and seek out business advice and support from key voices within Birmingham’s professional services community.

The group already has an active community of members and we would like to welcome you to join us too.

Following a hugely successful event last year, Taste of Business returns to Taste of Birmingham.

Sponsored by Colmore Business District, Taste of Business is the must-attend event of the year and gives the business community the chance to network with colleagues and make new contacts whilst sampling signature dishes from 16 of the region's top restaurants, produce from over 50 local producers and a host of spectacular demonstrations in the feature kitchens.  There will also be music and entertainment, supplied by the Jam House.

Tickets to Taste of Business are complimentary and are available now.

To register for Taste of Business please click here.

Friday 16th July

12.00pm - 4.00pm

Cannon Hill Park

Taste of Business is sponsored by Colmore Business District, with thanks to Taste of Birmingham.

HBJ Gateley Wareing, the growing national law firm headquartered in Birmingham, continues to go from strength to strength. After posting an industry-bucking 14% growth in turnover for 2009-10, the corporate and commercial firm is also having a good year in terms of it's community work.

Helping to raise over £1.4 million for good causes over the past decade, the firm continues to support groups and charities in its home city. In 2010 the firm's local charity is the Birmingham Children's Hospital (BCH) Charities while Help For Heroes is this year's national charity. These two very different organisations nevertheless demonstrate the firm's commitment to staying connected to its local roots and how its community work is driven by its people - all chosen charities are selected by a ballot amongst staff.

As well as helping to organise the annual Help For Heroes Birmingham ball which raises over £100,000 every autumn, the firm has been holding weekly events to support the BCH Charities and their current £2 million appeal to build a new hybrid cardiac theatre at the hospital - a first for Birmingham and the UK.

HBJ Gateley Wareing is a firm proud of its local roots and committed to Birmingham's continued development as a world-class business city.

Photo: Newly promoted lawyers at the Birmingham office of HBJ Gateley Wareing with Mike Ward (senior partner, in the centre): Lisa Clark, Jo Owens, Gurbinder Grewal, Mike Ward, Akin Akinbode, Kathryn Hacking, Amber Wright and Fiona Emms.

Over 90 per cent of the Midlands’ most high profile business leaders are well and truly in favour of the new coalition Government’s aggressive cutting strategy to reduce the national deficit more quickly, according to a poll by leading accountants and business advisors BDO LLP.

The findings come from the ‘Transitions – Dealing with the Post Recession Landscape’ event, which was hosted by Birmingham Post editor Alun Thorne.

Although most guests were in favour of immediate action to tackle the national debt, the majority (58 per cent) disagreed with the predicted ratio split of 80 per cent public spending cuts to 20 per cent tax rises.

Guests were also asked to put themselves in George Osbourne’s shoes and reveal what they would do in his position. 80 per cent of them said that the biggest tax increase should be on VAT, with corporate tax increases unsurprising being least popular, with just 17 per cent saying they should be raised. A massive 94 per cent believed that Local Government was the first place to make cuts, with pay and pensions the next in the firing line with 80 per cent believing these should be reduced.

Commenting on the results Tim Harford said: “First and foremost the Government has to reassure the markets- it’s not about being fast because what does fast actually mean? I don’t think taking major cuts from public sector budgets now is going to help things. I would rather see some immediate action with a clear strategy over the next few years laying out how the deficit can be reduced without causing too much damage to the economy.”

To view video footage of the event, visit www.birminghampost.net.

Photo: Guest speaker Tim Hartford of the Financial Times

The last few years has seen a huge rise in the impact of social media as a tool to generate new business and deepen relationships with contacts and clients.

Birmingham Forward members are invited to attend a special series of breakfast seminars in which LinkedIn, Twitter and blogging will be explained.  Rob Muir, managing director of The Bottom Line Marketing and Communications, will give some top tips on how to get to grips with the platforms and maximise their business use.

These morning events will take place at St Phillips Chambers on Wednesday 23 June, Wednesday 7 July and Wednesday 14 July.  The cost is £25 (+VAT) per event or £60 (+VAT) for the series of three.  To find out more, please contact Theresa Meek at Theresa@birminghamforward.co.uk.

Wednesday July 7th - Birmingham Forward Economics Lunch - with Mark Miller from Lloyds TSB: As the recession continues to impact on business, Birmingham Forward is running the next in their series of economic updates to provide the region's businesses with a wide range of commentary and analysis from across the economic spectrum.

Our next speaker’s lunch will focus on what the 22nd June budget will mean for the West Midlands and the outlook for the UK and global economy as a whole. Our speaker on this occasion is Mark Miller, Chief UK economist for Lloyds TSB.

These are still uncertain and challenging times so there will be opportunity for some discussion after Mark's speech. The event will provide the ideal occasion to engage and network with other senior managers and directors in the business community as well as receiving an insight into the economy from a key figure in the UK economy.

Tuesday June 29th - The Future of Cricket & Business at Edgbaston: We are very pleased to be able to welcome our guest speaker Colin Povey, Chief Executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, the driving force behind the £30m plus development at the Ground.

A passionate and active sports enthusiast, Colin has most notably achieved numerous international and domestic honors in water polo.  He captained England and played and coached for the Great Britain team. In addition to his role at Edgbaston Colin is also a Non-Executive Director of Northampton Saints RFC.

Colin will be talking to us about the business challenges being faced in the rapidly changing environment of international sport and what this may mean for Edgbaston. He will also talk about the plans for the new stadium development. Under which, Edgbaston’s capacity will be increased to 25,000 and new floodlighting will be installed. Planning permission has also been granted for new conference facilities a hotel, housing and offices.