Our journey towards becoming the search experts that we proudly identify as today, has been an exciting and transformative experience. This has been marked by a series of strategic decisions, valuable lessons, and a commitment to excellence in the ever-evolving Financial Technology sector.
As a qualified accountant, he quickly eased into his role and became an institutional salesman, before being awarded partnership of the firm. He took a keen interest in what we now call Fintech and creating innovative solutions that were ground-breaking at the time.
One of his employees, Ron, had to write down prices from the stock exchange floor. Chris installed a video camera above his hand on a bracket and then beamed it back to the office. Cutting edge stuff. Of course, they dubbed him “Real-Time Ron.
The partners met and discussed what price the market would bear for these reports, and they settled on the princely sum of £500. Of course, Wood Mackenzie is now the number one research house for the energy markets and was bought by Verisk Analytics in 2015 for $2.8bn.
Following the spate of acquisitions of London brokers and banks post-Big Bang, through several different moves and institutions, Chris’s last role in the market was as global head of equities at Banque Paribas. After a successful few years there, Chris decided to leave investment banking and started up a headhunting firm, leveraging his extensive contacts built up over 30 years in the equities world.
In 2007, Chris decided that he wanted to take a back seat from the business and work part-time and he started looking for a partner to run the company moving forward.
A week later, he called Miles, and they met again, and Chris asked him to come on board. They created a contract that was half a side of A4. Chris’s view was always that “if we have to refer to contracts, the deal is over.” He did not want a complicated contract.
And so, Miles went from running his business from his spare room to having an office in the City. Right from the start, they clicked, and business built very quickly. It was a real pleasure to be introduced to his clients, many of whom were City grandees who Miles had only read about in the financial press
She was the best headhunter Miles has worked with and taught him so much about the business’s nuances.
The beginning of 2008 started well. Little did anyone know what was about to hit their market. Post the crash and going into 2009, London felt shut, and they began to worry seriously about the future.
Over the next few years, they racked up thousands of air miles back and forth on that very long flight and of course, having a growing business they could only afford to be in ‘the big room’ on those flights! Business built very quickly, and after a few years, it was clear that they needed a good base in Hong Kong and someone to run their business there.
Ironically being headhunters, they couldn’t find the right person for the job. That’s when Lucy made the huge decision to move with her son out to Hong Kong in 2015.
Once based there, the business grew very fast, and with the help of their fantastic clients, they became established in the fintech market in Asia. In 2017, they opened a Singapore office.