Loan bankers gathered at St Lawrence Jewry church for the LSMF’s Christmas carol service, taking place for the 13th year running. This year the event was successful in raising money and awareness for the Down’s Syndrome Association, a charity that aims to help people with Down’s Syndrome live full and rewarding lives.
But it was also a chance for bankers to share time together in camaraderie, without the pressures of daily business, and to sing carols, pray or engage in quiet reflection. In a real rarity, the service included a carol in Basque (sung only by the choir, of course).
Guild vicar Canon David Parrott certainly gave us all something to think about.
We knew there was gold on the way when he began his address with the bold assertion that St Lawrence Jewry was the natural church of the loan market.
How so? Well, for starters, St Lawrence was the purse keeper of the church. As number two to the pope at that time, Sixtus II, Lawrence replaced him in that job after Sixtus was executed by the Romans in 258.
Sixtus’s crime had been refusing to hand over the church’s money to the Romans. Summoned in his turn to cough up, St Lawrence went along to meet the prefect (a kind of Roman FCA), bringing with him the church’s true riches – a delegation of the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering.
The Roman regulator's heart did not melt, and St Lawrence's fate was sealed. It’s a great thing to be a saint, pointed out Canon Parrott, but unfortunately you have to go through martyrdom to get there.
At which a helpful voice to Loan Ranger’s left piped up with an illustration: “Like Bob Diamond!”
How much irony was intended wasn't clear. Aghast faces turned for a moment, but Canon Parrott was on to his next point.
The other support for his argument was the history of the Jewry itself, which stems back to the Norman conquest of 1066. At that time, Christians interpreted the Bible’s ban on usury as forbidding the charging of any interest on loans. Christian finance, in fact, was similar to today's Islamic finance.
To get round this, any travelling army would bring a party of Jews with them to conduct any financing arrangements. Jews interpreted usury as charging excessive interest – over 12%. More PIK and mezzanine territory than term loan 'B' (at least recently).
“So you could say, they were the Loan Syndicate Managers' Forum of their day,” offered Parrott to the nervous room.
“Gold isn’t bad,” added Canon Parrott, by way of comfort. “It’s how you use it.”
Bankers were on much surer footing when we retired to the comfort of Commerzbank’s office across the road, for a fortifying dose of mince pies and mulled wine.
If you missed the carol concert but would still like to donate to the cause, the Just Giving page can be found here. All donations for this good cause very gratefully received.
