Oh wall, oh wall . . .
The City loves its buzz-words, and bui- ziest of the moment is the Chinese wall. This imaginary fortification is built across people's offices, or in extreme cases inside people's heads. When the bids and deals department of a merchant bank gets the order to mount a take-over bid, the Chinese wall is what stops the investment department from hearing about it. This means that if the investment department buys lots of shares in the company to be bid for, it must be a coincidence. Market sinologists assert that the Great Wall of China has never, in its dynastic history, kept anybody out. Professor Jim Gower, the Government's chief adviser on protect- ing investors, is heard to say that in his experience, Chinese walls have grapevines trailing over them. But the best piece of wall-work is credited to Nigel Lawson — a line believed to have been deleted from the final draft of his big speech on City reform. The trouble with Chinese walls (the Chan- cellor so nearly proclaimed) is that they contain chinks.
Christopher Fildes
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