Woellwarth & Co Part 2

 My sojourn with David Lincoln on the new Swiss Desk was interesting as David had some views as to how brokers worked that clashed quite badly with the then current standards of Tony Woellwarth and Reg Winterbourne (Chairman and MD).  It was my job to keep him in check. Unfortunately, David seemed to blame me for the situation instead of understanding that it wasn't me but the bosses that were dictating the standards. 

We had a couple of new people join us on the desk - Andy Holden and a guy from William Brandts (a then current merchant bank) - sorry I can't remember his name. He was quite a big guy and a very keen hockey player. His job was to take the line to the Swiss broker that David brought along with him. 

Eventually, David and my relationships broke down such that he asked that I be taken off the team. For a couple of days, this was a big drama for me as, in my meeting with Reg about the situation, he admitted that there was nowhere else for me to go as I wasn't needed back on the DM section. Suddenly, it was all changed because the bosses had arranged for a link to a new Frankfurt broker and the DM section was back busy again and needed me. This secured my situation because I woke up my old contacts and everything looked good. However, Kirkland Whittaker, another DEM broker, who had been in connection with this German broker for a couple of years, protested to them and forced them into stopping our link. But by then, I was back and that's how it stayed. 

By this time, they had disposed of the services of Tony le Ray-Cook and needed a new boss of the section. I was asked by Reg who I thought should run it. Me, being an honest guy, said that there was a choice. If they wanted the best manager, then they should appoint me. If they wanted the best broker then they should appoint Roy Jarvis. Guess what - they chose Roy. As I expected, a few months later, Roy left having had a minor breakdown - caused, no doubt, by having charge of the section. Eventually, the Swiss section was closed and David Lincoln was given overall charge of the DMs, which put him as my boss again. However, the DM section was my spiritual home and he could never have any complaints about my abilities.

He brought with him one of his swiss contacts - a small Zurich based bank within the European Co-operative bank group - Bank Europaischer Gennossenschafts Banken - know as BEG for short. The trader there was a guy called Arnold - Noldy for short - and it was my job to speak to him all day. You would think that I was pleased with this outcome - well, just wait and see!