A Warburg speciality
THAT IS a description, not a rank, and a Warburg speciality. The uncles are sup- posed to have retired, have no executive posts, do not sit on the board — but come in just the same, know exactly what is going on, are involved in all sort of ways, and can remember (crucial in banking) what went wrong last time. Henry Grunfeld broods on the change that has made banks so much more dependent on trading for their own account in financial markets: 'A much larg- er part of the profits and potentially of the losses now come from trading. I wonder whether it is a good or a bad thing.' There could be no worse thing than the persecu- tion that drove him and his partner to make a new beginning, in their adopted City, but they had much to bring to it and something to teach it. Happy birthday, Great Uncle Henry.
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