INFO Women in Business

women in businessCarolyn McCallon women and work

Baroness BlaCkstone on Franco-British co-operation

‘A difficult job for a woman’

Hélène Darroze talks about being a top chef & mother

I N F Othe magazine for anglo-french business may / june 2013french chamber of commerce in great britain www.ccfgb.co.uk

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At VINCI Construction Grands Projets, we engineer solutions that are not only financially competitive, but work sustainably for the planet. It starts with putting Safety first, always, at all times, on every site. Health & Safety training, policies and guidelines are all in place, but to generate the best possible results, we go further with our innovative (A)live on Site programme. We understand that our people are more reactive to what concerns them directly, we have a team who visit the site, shoot a short movie and then broadcast it to the team. Each scene is analysed with behaviour experts, underlining the good (and less good) actions. (A)live on site has been successfully delivered to more than 2,000 people, in 12 languages, across 14 countries, including the UK.

To learn more please visit www.vinci-construction-projects.com/british-isles

Constructing a Sustainable future.

For all enquiriescontact Hermès on020 7499 8856

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01_197,4x279,18_InfoMag_UK.indd 1 16/04/13 17:21

info - may / june - �

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At VINCI Construction Grands Projets, we engineer solutions that are not only financially competitive, but work sustainably for the planet. It starts with putting Safety first, always, at all times, on every site. Health & Safety training, policies and guidelines are all in place, but to generate the best possible results, we go further with our innovative (A)live on Site programme. We understand that our people are more reactive to what concerns them directly, we have a team who visit the site, shoot a short movie and then broadcast it to the team. Each scene is analysed with behaviour experts, underlining the good (and less good) actions. (A)live on site has been successfully delivered to more than 2,000 people, in 12 languages, across 14 countries, including the UK.

To learn more please visit www.vinci-construction-projects.com/british-isles

Constructing a Sustainable future.

For all enquiriescontact Hermès on020 7499 8856

Hermes.com

a s p o r t i n g l i f e !

01_197,4x279,18_InfoMag_UK.indd 1 16/04/13 17:21

� - info - may / june


editorialPresident,

French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain, and Chairman & CEO, International SOS

Arnaud Vaissié

This issue of INFO focuses on women in business.The business case for increasing the number of women not only in senior

management roles but also throughout organisations has been clearly documented. McKinsey & Company’s Women Matter studies, published every year since 2007, have established the link between gender diversity in the top management positions of a company and its performance, and show that companies with the highest share of women significantly outperform companies with no women: by 41% in terms of return on equity and by 56% in terms of operating results.* This is partly attributed to the way women exercise leadership, with the complementarity and diversity that it brings, but it also has much to do with having a pool of the very best minds, whether women’s or men’s, to draw upon. A majority of companies take the issue extremely seriously and devote considerable resources to redressing the gender imbalance – several of the articles in the Focus section of this issue demonstrate some of the initiatives that have been undertaken by our member companies. But progress is slow, and while the UK has opted for a soft approach, setting an objective of achieving 25% female representation on corporate boards by 2015, France has taken a more decisive stance by legislating quotas. In this issue the two different approaches are compared and numerous interviews with women in business provide insights into the real issues, barriers and challenges that they have encountered in their own careers.

Britain has recently paused to remember one particular woman, one of the most influential leaders of her time and the country’s only female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, who passed away on 8 April. Strong in her convictions and decisive in her policies, the ‘Iron Lady’ was both revered and reviled, but there is no doubt that she completely transformed Britain’s economic and political landscape, and her reforms created the powerhouse that is the UK financial sector.

Recent activities at the Chamber include the Business Club Cocktail, which was enjoyed immensely by all those who came, despite the weather throwing into disarray the travel plans of the Locate Jersey delegation, who were due to make a presentation on Jersey as a business location. We also hosted a very successful Saint Emilion Wine Master Class at Harrod’s Wine Shop and the annual Member to Member Cocktail and Exhibition, which were attended by a wide cross-section of Chamber members. Sessions of the various Forums and Clubs have continued to have presentations and roundtable discussions of the highest calibre – the reports at the back of the magazine give a flavour of the issues under discussion.

As the days get longer and Spring finally puts in an appearance, there is much to look forward to in the Chamber’s calendar of events, and we hope you will join us for many of them. I * McKinsey & Company (2010). Women Matter 2010. Women at the top of corporations: Making it happen


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Editor-in-Chief: Keri Fuller

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Publications Assistant: Melonie Gault

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Contributors: Ama Afrifa-Kyei, Christine Borgoltz Halff, Kresse Wressling, Louise Brett, Mark Bomer, Philippe Chalon, Eric Charriaux, Katy Gandon, Robin Jeffcott, Claudia Jonczyk-Sédès, Savita Kumra, Thibault Lavergne, Julia Massies, Myriam O’Carroll, Joanna Powis, Emmanuelle Ries, Monique Valcour

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issue 206 / May - June 2013

‘Yes to Europe’ conference: Europe and public opinion��

Relais & Châteaux Grand Chefs create culinary theatre in London�� A word with

Hélène Darroze�6

Getting acquainted with the ‘King of wines’76

Carolyn McCall on women and work��

Contents

Bilateral9 BaronessBlackstone,newchairofthe

Franco-BritishCouncil

5 minutes with... 12 EstelleBrachlianoff

News in the City 15 AnembattledBudgetforBritain

16 CityProfile:ElisabethMarkart

News 18 Saint-Gobainopensinspirationalnew

innovationcentre

19 TotalresumesproductionintheElgin/FranklinareaoftheNorthSea

20 BritishAirwaysorders18A350-1000aircraftfromAirbus

AsendiaacquiresPitneyBowesintheUK

21 VINCIConstructionUKawarded£8.4mRoyalCollegeofArtdevelopment

23 InternationalSOSannouncesstrategicpartnershipwithLondon’sAirAmbulance

24 Relais&ChâteauxGrandChefscreateculinarytheatreinLondon

26 FrenchChambermembersamongTop50EmployersforWomen2013

27 Hello,goodbye...

28 SchoolsNews

Spotlight on SMEs and Startups30 Briefs

33 Profiles

Success Story 36 DelahayeMoving

Focus 38 WomeninBusiness

39 WomeninBusinesstimeline

40 Theabsenceofwomenonboards–a‘wicked’problem:comparisonsbetweenFranceandtheUK

43 The30%Club:chairmenforchange

44 Balancedboardroomsareonlyonesideofthecoin

45 Currenthotspotsforwomeninbusiness

46 It’stimetothink,actandreportoninclusion

47 Betweentheglassceilingandthestickyfloor:subtlebarriers

48 Genderdiversityisanintegralpartofmodernity

49 Thepowerofsponsorshipinbusiness

50 Theworldneedsscienceandscienceneedswomen

51 Supportingfemaleentrepreneurs

52 Themenbehindgreatwomen

53 Successsecretsofdual-careercouples

54 TheWomen’sForum:aninsider’sview

55 CarolynMcCallonwomenandwork

56 AwordwithHélèneDarroze

58 Womeninbusiness:performingthebalancingact

60 Creatingcompanycultureswherewomenflourish

Culture 63 RoyalAcademySummerExhibition

64 What’son

69 WinePress

News @ the Chamber 71 Newmembers

72 ChamberShorties

75 Theshowgoeson...

76 Gettingacquaintedwiththe‘Kingofwines’

77 Connectionsanddiscoveries

78 Logisticalandoperationalchallenges

79 Corporatevolunteering

80 Exporttradewithemergingmarkets:risksandtrends

81 Buildinggreen

82 ForthcomingForums&Clubs/Events

84 ForthcomingPatronEvents

6 - info - may / june

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FBC has also been excellent at talent spotting! David Cameron, Nick Clegg and David Miliband all contributed to a New Generations debate in 2004 before reaching high office in government. We have also attracted highly influential leaders from France including Jean-Pierre Landau, Elisabeth Guigou and on the sporting side, Thierry Henry. At our 40th Anniversary reception later this year, Europe Minister David Lidington MP will give the keynote speech. It will be an opportunity to address the current debate on UK membership in Europe with an

audience of business leaders and policy makers.

What are the most challenging areas of co-operation? Some of the big common challenges relate to immigration pressures, the future of the European economy and how we reduce unemployment amongst young people. Defence and Security are also important issues that cover promoting peace and security globally, and particularly in Africa, where we were both former colonial powers. If I were to pick something specific it would be terrorism in the Sahel region of Africa. We have economic interests in Nigeria, as does France in the Francophone areas of Africa. The fact that we are working together at present is important; there are some major underlying issues about longer-term prevention of the spread of terrorism in poor nomadic communities that we should share. Energy and climate change are also long-term issues, and what we each do has an effect on the other. The CEO of EDF Energy, Vincent de Rivaz, spoke at our recent Financial Crisis seminar and this is the sort of co-operation that I personally want to see. I want to link with organisations like the French Chamber of Commerce and host high level topical events for many more French companies working in the UK. The FBC’s raison d’être is to encourage co-operation and extend bilateral networks. And my vision is to galvanise that further. I KF

Baroness Blackstone, new chair of the Franco-British CouncilA Labour life peer in the House of Lords, Baroness Blackstone is a former Minister of State in Education and Employment & Culture, and was Vice Chancellor of Greenwich University and Master of Birkbeck College. She spoke to INFO about her new role and Franco-British co-operation

What convinced you to become Chair of the Franco-British Council (FBC)?I was Opposition Spokeswoman on Foreign Affairs in the House of Lords from 1992 to 1997, and I’ve had a longstanding interest in foreign policy generally, but especially in our relationship with Europe. I’m also a great Francophile and it’s an honour to lead an organisation like the FBC which does so much to enhance bilateral relations. Our strength comes from the breadth of our network. And of course this is an important time given the debate about the UK’s future role in Europe. It will be an exciting challenge and I look forward to adding to the foundation built by the FBC staff and my predecessor, Baroness Quin.

As it marks its 40th anniversary this year, what have been the FBC’s achievements?The FBC has established itself as a soft but powerful influence in decision making in the UK and France. One of its main achievements is getting people talking! We have devised a range of bilateral events bringing key people together to debate common issues, and identify solutions which we hope will influence government policy. Defence is a prime example where the two countries have strong mutual interests and our Annual Defence Conference and dedicated website have played a part in taking these interests forward.

I‘ve always been opposed to people having a narrow and parochial view of events, policies and issues. I think we should be outward looking and try to find out what our nearest neighbour is doing. I am not pretending that the FBC can bring about a sudden change of direction; it is about chipping away and mutual understanding. For example, we held a series of seminars on Diversity which brought together an eclectic mix of people from different multicultural backgrounds. The then prime minister, Gordon Brown, added his voice to the conference. The

Baroness Blackstone

�0 - info - may / june

d’outre-Manche explains that France welcomes two times fewer skilled immigrants than the UK and three times fewer than Germany.

One of the key suggestions made by the French London-based think-tank is to set up an economic commission for immigration in France. Similar to the French Low Pay Commission, which was able to make headway on the minimum wage issue, an ad hoc structure could be set up to study the economic consequences of immigration in France. This structure would be composed of representatives of trade unions, employers and qualified experts who would put forward measures that favour immigration management based on the needs of each sector of activity. These recommendations would then be followed by the government.

Such co-operation would yield a triple advantage: employers would get an immigration policy in line with what companies actually need. Trade unions would benefit from regulated labour immigration that would not contribute an excess supply of labour in sectors already suffering from unemployment. Finally, the government could spur a more balanced debate on immigration.

Le Cercle d’outre-Manche advocates for a calm and meaningful debate on these issues, especially in times of economic crisis. I Philippe Chalon The executive summary of the book can be downloaded on: www.cercledoutremanche.com

Cercle d’outre-Manche calls for targeted immigration and diversity in the workplace London-based French think-tank Cercle d’outre-Manche has published a book about immigration and work in France that calls for a measured debate on the issues, and proposes practical policies to manage immigration in a way that would benefit the economy

In its latest book, Immigration et travail: quelques bonnes pratiques à intégrer (Studyrama Editions,

March 2013), the Cercle d’outre-Manche wishes for a less dogmatic and more constructive debate around immigration issues in France. It suggests new policy initiatives for a better understanding of France’s immigration influx through impact studies and a better targeting of integration policies for migrants. The study also looks at how the concept of ethnic diversity should be encouraged in the workplace.

The fact that ageing countries need immigration is highlighted in the book. Recent EU reports suggest that the EU economy will need between 400,000 and 700,000 IT workers by 2015, and between 1 and 2 million healthcare workers by 2020. The Cercle

Created in 2004 the Cercle d’outre-Manche (CoM) is a group of French business leaders operating in the UK and France. The CoM is organised as a think tank and its purpose is to compare the social and economic conditions of the two countries. In particular, its members favour a benchmarking approach in order to depict the best practices in both France and the UK.

info - may / june - ��

competence between member states and the EU would be a prescription for more public support.’

The point was made that Britain had joined an economic community, but that everything was now being dominated by an EU that no-one in Britain had consented to be part of. Michael Howard agreed but Peter Mandelson rounded on him: ‘When you talk about flexibility you are actually talking about fluidity and flux. That is not what people see the point of the EU being.’ He accused Michael Howard of predicating his politics on the failure of the EU, ‘because it might actually succeed’.

Peter Kellner lamented the fact that what the EU does well was largely overlooked. ‘Pro-Europeans have not been candid enough about the failings and skeptics have ignored the positive,’ he said. Asked whether there had been a ‘spectacular failure on the part of EU leaders to talk about the longer term vision and convey the positive benefits of Europe’, Peter Kellner agreed, but said the question should be how to do it better rather than abolishing it. Peter Mandelson acknowledged the credibility gap – ‘European politicians have failed to understand the extent to which the public feels there is a lack of public control and accountability.’ He hoped for common ground discussions on a reform agenda between Britain and the EU. Michael Howard concluded by asserting – somewhat controversially by his own admission – that European leaders had hidden their long-term vision of Europe from the electorate because they knew it would not have support. I KF

‘Yes to Europe’ conference: Europe and public opinionMargaret Thatcher first used the words ‘Yes to Europe’ in her speech launching the Conservative campaign to keep Britain in Europe in 1975. In 2013 they have been adopted as the title of a cycle of conferences organised by the French Embassy in partnership with the European Commission Representation and the Financial Times, the first of which took place on 26 March

George Parker, Political Editor of the Financial Times, chaired a panel of speakers, comprising Lord

Mandelson, Chairman of the Global Counsel, former European Trade Commissioner and British First Secretary of State, Lord Howard, former leader of the Conservative Party and cabinet member, Noëlle Lenoir, former French Europe Minister, and Peter Kellner, President of YouGov.

All the panelists agreed that there was a crisis of public opinion with regard to the EU, but each had a different perspective on it. Pro-European Peter Mandelson admitted that the EU and the Eurozone could not thrive ‘unless its governance is able to secure greater public consent and legitimacy.’ He noted that ‘at the core of the current crisis is the extent to which politics and economics are out of sync. The EU has the currency but not the fiscal institutions and framework to manage it because this was too difficult to do at the time. The crisis has confronted this but to survive, the Eurozone will need to operate more as a single political entity, which has big implications for public opinion and politics.’

Noëlle Lenoir saw populism as the EU’s main challenge. She stressed the very hard lessons France had learned from its 2005 referendum and sounded a warning that referendums give opportunities for extremism to thrive. For something as complex as the EU, she said, a referendum is ‘a bold initiative but very reckless, and not the best way to ask a clear question’. Later in response to a question about why 70% of French people want Britain to leave the EU, she quoted Churchill who had said that ‘Britain is with Europe but not of it’. But she did admit that it has been the most influential country in the EU and has best modelled the European market.

Michael Howard said he wanted the EU to be successful and Britain to be part of it, but the EU had to change. ‘The EU is not working properly. It is bureaucratic, inflexible and cumbersome, and its one size fits all approach for countries as different as Finland to Cyprus is less than ideal for both and many others. We need a more flexible EU with room to breathe,’ he stated. ‘A better balance of

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5 minutes with. . .

as there are different proportions in those.

As a woman, has it been difficult to get where you are?Yes it has, and not only because I am a woman but also because it’s a desirable position. It is not getting into this industry that is difficult but getting promoted. I have had to overcome some hurdles, but I believe that where there is a will there is a way, and I’ve kept on moving. Some of the barriers affect not just women but also minorities, so it is more about diversity than specifically gender. But women in particular do not have as easy access to informal networks as men, which can hinder their progress. Women try to achieve things with less networking, and tend to be more direct and blunt – which can be challenging for their teams and bosses. But I don’t want to generalise too much as all women are different.

I think appointing someone like me is a sign that things are changing – I am not your traditional waste guy. I am also helping things to change by putting diversity at the top of my agenda. We have to change from within. We still need people who are experienced in the industry – usually male and white – but we also need those who can think out of the box and bring new ideas, and I try to achieve a balance and a mixture. In my experience you have to first show all women that it is possible and second be open to promoting different kinds of people, even though they may not have typical CVs – you have to take risks.

You previously worked in waste management in Greater Paris, and now you are in London. Do they have similar problems as capital cities, or their own unique challenges?Despite their different histories, London and Paris have many similar problems to do with urbanisation and high density. Our main challenges are how to handle collections and promote recycling or recovery in these urbanised areas. Logistics are also an issue

You took over as Chief Executive of Veolia Environmental Services UK last July, an appointment that necessitated a move from France. Have you found the UK to be different from your expectations? Professionally speaking, I was presented with a great opportunity to run a company that is one of the jewels in the crown of Veolia. On a personal note, my family and I were very excited to start a new life in London. My husband resigned his position in France to join me here, and I’ve sent my children to an English school so that they can become bilingual.

I was always interested in what was happening on the other side of the Channel. I thought the UK would be quite different from France and it is possibly even more different than I expected. But I’m glad it is – you don’t move to another country to see exactly what you are used to. It is really impressive to see how two countries that are so close geographically can be so far apart in many aspects, and yet very much alike in others. Managing British people has some really big dissimilarities to managing French people. But you should also ask my team – I think the change and the challenge goes both ways.

Waste management is a traditionally male-dominated industry, and you are Veolia’s first female chief executive. Is there any difference between France and the UK in that respect? Waste management is a male-dominated industry in both France and the UK. There is a perception that France is perhaps more advanced in bringing women into this ‘male-type business’, but in reality there is little difference between the two countries. Things are maybe more hidden in the UK – I don’t think people would admit as easily that there is an issue, whereas in France they would know there is one. There are more men in the waste industry, but it depends on whether you are talking about blue collar or white collar roles

The new Chief Executive of Veolia Environmental Services UK, a Patron member of the Chamber, speaks about being a woman leader in a male-dominated industry, differences and similarities between the UK and France and the company’s massive investment in recycling and energy recovery

Estelle Brachlianoff

Some of the barriers affect not just women but also minorities, so it is more about diversity than specifically gender.


Estelle Brachlianoff

because of the density. However, there are wonderful opportunities too. I had never experienced anything like the Olympics. It was a tremendous experience to see dedicated, fully engaged people under my management, not only doing their jobs of cleaning streets and collecting dustbins wonderfully but also doing more, like answering tourists’ questions and giving directions.

What did you do before Veolia and how did you rise to the top in waste management?Before I joined Veolia in 2005, I spent eight years as a civil servant building highways, mainly in the outskirts of Paris, and designing tramways that are being built now, 15 years later. I also worked as an advisor in the cabinet office. The common thread is that I am really passionate about people, and about the realisation of things that you can see or touch physically. I found that in the construction sector and now in Veolia. I am also a big city lady. It took me two seconds to say yes to the proposal to move to London – a small city would have been a lot more difficult for me.

Is the UK waste industry different from that in France, and in what ways?It used to be very different but the UK has been through tremendous, positive change over the past 10 years. Back then, 80% of waste was going to landfills, but this has come down to 49% through initiatives like landfill tax and PFIs (Private Finance Initiatives) to build new facilities for recovery and recycling. It is incredible that this has been achieved in such a short period of time. France has reduced its landfill waste from 41% to 28% in the same period so the trend has been a lot slower. Nevertheless there is still room for improvement, especially in the commercial and manufacturing sectors.

PFIs are slowing down for many reasons, one being the difficulty in getting planning permission in this country. A lot of projects ultimately fail for this reason. It is democracy but I think it is legitimate to ask whether the balance is right. Another reason is that the risk balance is weighted against the private sector and a lot of companies have withdrawn from the process because it became too risky for too little reward. It is one thing to win a PFI, but quite another to build and operate it.

What is Veolia’s agenda for sustainability and contributing to the green economy?We are investing £1 billion in the next six years in facilities for recycling and recovery such as waste plants, new recycling plants, and new in-vessel composting plants. This investment will avoid landfill, create 28,000 more jobs and give back to the local community. I’m very proud that we have been given the platinum award by Business In The Community Corporate Responsibility Index for what we do in employing local people, training people and volunteering. Driving Veolia towards more energy recovery and recycling is one of my main priorities, and we are spending a lot of money in research & development and innovation to this end.

What keeps you awake at night?Health and safety – I have 12,000 employees under my stewardship and my responsibility is to keep them safe. Being a CEO of a company such as Veolia, the only thing you fear is accidents that could have been avoided. We are among the best in class in terms of our health and safety performance, but that is not good enough for me. I won’t be satisfied until we have zero accidents in this country.

What is the best aspect of your job?The ability to drive the agenda and deliver new ideas, new business and new initiatives for Veolia and the market. I KF

5 min u t es w i t h Estelle Br achli a noff

�� - info - may / june

Still guiding the way for global business. ft.com/125


news in the cit y

An embattled Budget for Britain

Granted, Chancellor George Osborne had little room to

manoeuvre when setting the 2013 Budget for the UK. With national debt continuing to climb, the deficit barely budging at £120.9 billion, and growth forecasts slashed to 0.6% by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), there is broad consensus that he had to negotiate a precarious path along a narrow escarpment. But the question remains whether it is a Budget that will make any difference at all to Britain’s flat-lining economy.

For business there were some fillips, among them a further 1 percentage point reduction in corporation tax to 20% from April 2015, which will give Britain the lowest main rate of corporation tax in the G20, alongside Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey; a cut in employer’s national insurance tax that will help small businesses and start-ups; and encouragement for innovation in enhanced R&D tax credit relief. The downside is that most of these measures take effect at least 12 months down the line. And any hopes for radical supply-side reform were disappointed. Infrastructure spend is being increased by a mere £3 billion per annum from 2015, paid for by a squeeze in public spending, and with no details provided on how the money would be spent, the future of many projects remains on hold.

Most worrying is public sector debt, which is now projected to be £100 billion higher by 2017-18 than the £1.5 trillion laid down in the Autumn Statement, and at 85% of GDP, dangerously close to becoming a millstone that throttles economic growth.

GDP growth remains elusive, with the government still aiming to achieve this through tight fiscal policy and loose monetary policy, barring any euro crisis

shocks. While the fiscal impact of the Budget was essentially neutral, with ‘giveaways’ almost exactly offsetting ‘takeaways’, some economists see potential changes announced to the Bank of England’s remit on monetary policy as positive because more flexibility may encourage growth. Ernst & Young’s ITEM Club foresees a boost to consumer spending when housing and personal tax measures feed through to disposable incomes, supported by rising employment numbers, but is gloomy about an export-led recovery, or any imminent rebalancing of the economy. Others are sceptical that this Budget will deliver growth in any shape or form, most notably the OBR, whose chairman Robert Chote wrote that none of the budgetary measures gave it cause to revise its forecasts: ‘we assume that they will have ... no impact on the level of GDP at the end of the forecasting horizon’. I KF

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has set out his spending plans for the next year, but with limited change in the public purse and few new ideas for fostering growth, it remains to be seen whether this budget will make any difference at all to GDP

The Chancellor with the world famous Gladstone Budget Box

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Profile

Elisabeth Markart

“T hink and walk out of the box” was and still is my philosophy’, says Elisabeth Markart, who at

the age of 18 left her native Austria to study abroad. True to form she chose an unconventional and demanding path, opting for a ‘Hypokhâgne’ in Paris only two years after starting to learn French. ‘I am very fond of history, literature, Latin, philosophy and foreign languages and there I was, among the young French elite,’ she recalls. ‘I later added Economics and Finance which are still my field of competence and professional activity.’ She then switched to the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), which she describes as ‘a very open, challenging and interesting institution’.

This was by no means the only atypical route taken by Elisabeth. She also attended IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale, Session Nationale (SN) 62), which runs courses on security, defence and geopolitical issues for high level civil servants, MPs and executives from various professional backgrounds, together with high military officers of the CHEM (Centre des Hautes Etudes Militaires). ‘This is selective and highly regarded training for people interested in defence issues

– it is an unforgettable year and you make relationships that last for the rest of your life,’ comments Elisabeth.

Years later, having worked in both Europe and the US, she ‘deemed it necessary to discover Asia’ and, while working for HSBC, opted to study for an MBA in Singapore where INSEAD offers a joint degree with Qinghua School of Economics and Management (the Beijing-based top-ranked business school at Qinghua University).

Elisabeth’s diverse international experience was honed working in various senior advisor and executive roles at Merrill Lynch, HSBC, UBS and Deutsche Bank, and has been very valuable to her current role at

Banque Transatlantique in London, which was a newly created position. ‘I am a passionate Private Banker,’ she explains. ‘The essence of my role is to understand our clients’ needs. I draw on these experiences to build a unique service offer for our private clients.’

For nearly a century Banque Transatlantique has been the bank of French diplomats, and its services were extended to French expatriates in the 1990s. It is a subsidiary of CM-CIC, the French mutualist group which has one of the best credit ratings worldwide. Now the bank is moving into International Private Wealth Management, which requires a global presence and a higher level of international integration. Hence Elisabeth’s appointment and move to London in June 2012. ‘Many of our clients have chosen to live and work out of London – you need to be close to your clients to understand their concerns and help them realise their projects,’ she says.

One of the projects Banque Transatlantique has been involved in is the new French school in Wembley, for which it has provided a £40 million loan. ‘This is a very good example of our support for the French and francophone community worldwide and how Banque Transatlantique implements its expertise and is able to achieve outstanding results through cross country teams,’ Elisabeth points out.

Elisabeth is presiding over some very ambitious plans for the London Branch of the bank. ‘We are going to set up an offer to service private clients locally and give them access to the whole range of services offered throughout the group in various jurisdictions and locations,’

she says. As she leads the London team in building a High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth franchise for Banque Transatlantique, there is no doubt that Elisabeth Markart will adhere to her maxim of thinking

– and working – out of the box. I KF

Elisabeth Markart is the General Manager of the London Branch of Banque Transatlantique, one of France’s oldest private banks with a strong focus on serving expatriates, diplomats and international civil servants, and a Patron member of the French Chamber

Elisabeth Markart

info - may / june - �7

news in t he ci t y

Britain goes to court over proposed financial transactions tax

||| The UK government has launched a legal challenge against plans for a European financial transactions tax amidst fears it could have a devastating impact on the City of London. Eleven out of 27 EU states – among them France and Germany – plan to implement the

tax, which levies 0.1% on stock and bond trades and 0.01% on derivative deals in the tax area, but will also apply to transactions outside the tax area when they are issued by one of the 11 participating countries, thereby stinging London where many trades take place.

It is this extraterritorial aspect of the proposal that the UK is concerned about, and it is challenging the authorising decision at the European Court of Justice on grounds that the tax would be unfair to countries unwilling to take part. Increasing the cost of such deals would be detrimental to the value of business carried out in Britain’s

financial sector and George Osborne has criticised it as ‘a tax on pensioners and people with savings and investments’ rather than a tax on banks or bankers. Proponents of the tax believe it will discourage speculative trading while raising public funds. I KF

Another downgrade for the UK’s credit rating

||| Citing weak growth and a disappointing outcome of austerity policies, Fitch has downgraded its rating for the UK to AA+, becoming the second credit ratings agency to do so after Moody’s reduced the UK’s sovereign debt rating in February.

Fitch did, however, leave its outlook for the

new rating as ‘stable’ because of Chancellor George Osborne’s ongoing policy commitment to reducing the budget deficit. Now out of the three credit ratings agencies, only Standard & Poor’s retains a triple-A rating for the UK, a position it reaffirmed in early April. I KF

Russian tinge to Britain’s Rich List||| Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov is the richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, an annual ranking of the wealthiest people in Britain and Ireland. Worth £13.3 billion, the owner of iron ore producer Metalloinvest also has a 30% stake in Arsenal football club. He is one of three Russians to dominate the top five places, the others being media mogul Len Blavatnik, whose £11 billion fortune puts him in second place, and fifth-placed Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club who made his money in the oil industry and is now worth £9.3 billion.

Only one person has made the top 10 every year since the List was first published in 1989 and he is also

the highest placed British-born person – the Duke of Westminster. He comes in at eighth with his £7.8 billion property fortune.

Her Majesty the Queen headed the first ever list, but her then wealth of £5.2 billion included the Crown Estates and royal art collection, which since 1993 have been excluded from the value of her personal worth, and now she does not even make the top 200. She was one of only nine billionaires in the first list; the latest counts 88, up from last year’s 77. Pooling the fortunes of the 1,000 richest people in Britain and Ireland would amass £450 billion, but very little of that has actually been earned in Britain. I KF

The European Court of Justice©

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