Industry waits to see if promises can be delivered

It is the time of year-end reviews and year-ahead projections. Silly hats, a few soggy Christmas parties, a decent bonus and a gentler end to a dismal few months. But the industry is being rocked from its seasonal torpor. Markets have suddenly lit up like a Christmas pudding and amid the jolly jingles, some discordant news is ringing out. The Queen is looking for a new fund manager to take on her eccentrically constructed portfolio of dotbombs, music arrangers and sporting ventures. Such a post would normally attract a rush of applications from ambitious City houses keen to get the royal ...