Hairy Bankers
Euromoney, is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024
Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement
Opinion

Hairy Bankers

The Financial Times recently ran a video on its website about the power of hair.

It asked if having a full head of hair was a prerequisite for success in the workplace. The FT’s Lucy Kellaway stated bluntly in the video that "women are more attracted to men with a full head of hair than baldies".

The chief executives of the world’s largest banks are a hairy bunch, and are therefore presumably attractive for reasons beyond the impressive size of their bank balances.

Case in point: even as his bank is being fined left, right and centre, Jamie Dimon’s flowing locks are rarely ruffled. HSBC’s Stuart Gulliver meanwhile has been known to grow his hair into a style that can only be described as borderline mullet. And Antonio Horta-Osório of Lloyds always looks sickeningly handsome with his slicked-back mafia don look.

Then there is the salt and pepper brigade featuring the likes of Deutsche Bank’s Anshu Jain, Sergio Ermotti of UBS and Citi’s Mike Corbat; these three have hair as reassuringly solid as they can only hope their quarterly results will be this year. Brady Dougan of Credit Suisse and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America also sport similarly seemingly immovable hair with impressively straight side partings thrown in for good measure.

The magnificently bald exception of course is Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, although his recent attempts at a beard suggest he might be pining for a hairier time.

Perhaps he is a candidate to further swell the $1.9 billion global hair replacement business.

And are we to conclude that Stephen Hester should have invested in plugs, or at the very least a hairpiece, before throwing in the towel at RBS?

Gift this article