Is the City more than just a casino for the rich? Vodafone is about to find out

The City is meant to be a vehicle for raising capital for companies. But in the last decade it has completely lost touch with that role, says Matthew Lynn.

What is the City for, exactly? A place for young men to get rich quick? A magnet for global bankers? A way of keeping London property prices among the most expensive in the world?

In fact, it is meant to be a vehicle for raising capital for companies. But in the last decade it has completely lost touch with that role. The numbers of new listings have shrivelled to almost nothing. Very few companies ever attempt a rights issue to raise fresh money. In short, the City no longer appears to have very much to do with expanding the productive base of the economy.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.