7 MARCH 1998, Page 24

Sans peur et sans reproche

THE CITY'S old order changes, and one by one the mighty names of merchant banking fade away. This week sees the last of Hambros Bank, peacefully, in its 158th year. Societe Generale, its new French owners, are absorbing and relaunching it as SG Hambros Bank & Trust and SG Ham- bro Corporate Advisory — snappy, quoi? I am left to wonder what Societe Generale's badge engineers have in store for Sir Chips Keswick, Hambros' resolutely British chair- man. I hear it suggested that he is to be relaunched as the Chevalier Frites.