Collection title: The Jobbing System of the London Stock Exchange: An Oral History
Ref.No.: 33	Playback No.:

Interviewee's surname:Hopkinson	Title: Mr 
Interviewee's forenames: David Hugh Laing
Date of birth:   14 August 1926	Sex: Male

Date(s) of recording: 26 June 1990
Location of interview: Harrisons & Crosfield, EC3
Name of interviewer:  Bernard Attard
Type of recorder:  Marantz CP 430
Total no. of tapes:     1    Speed:
Type of tape:   TDK AR-60     Noise reduction:   DBX
Mono or stereo:  stereo      Original or copy:  copy
Additional material: Copyright/Clearance: CMH; no restrictions

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Tape 1, Side 1

Birth in 1926; description of career after leaving Merton; war service; degree from the House of Commons; clerk at the House of Commons; fund manager at Flemings; runs investment at M & G; runs M & G; Chairman of Harrisons & Crosfield; organisation of dealing at M & G; contrast with other investing institutions; fund managers develop their own networks of information; trust between manager and stockbroker; management becomes more specialist and professional; David Hopkinson's investment philosophy; background of managers; training provided by M & G; skill of a fund manager is in being well-informed; no necessity to be very well-informed about the way the Stock Exchange worked; M & G virtually never had contact with jobbers; cases when referred to jobbers or had contact with jobbers; relationship with brokers - M & G attempts to use as many brokers as possible; contrast with other institutions; generally, a lack of contact between jobbers and institutions; occasional contact with jobbers because they dealt in quoted units of M & G; would have liked a greater number of jobbing firms; believes jobbers would have been able to obtain additional capital; M & G sells shareholding in Smith Brothers because accused of a conflict of interest; believes obtained a competitive price from the jobbing system; criticism of Stock Exchange for failing adequately to reform commissions; link between commissions and quality of service; pressure on commissions came around 1980 when merchant banks wanted to get involved in stock trading; institutions create a one-way market; small investors can move markets; efficiency of jobbers in dealing with large orders; different approaches of managers in handling large orders; put-throughs; unfair not to show the jobber the business; attitude to fund managers using several brokers to sell the same stock; would sometimes ask brokers to share commission.

Tape 1, side 2

Situations in which would ask a broker to share commission; would ask particular dealers to handle difficult orders; Church of Laing & Cruickshank; dealer [BA: Perkins?] of Grieveson Grant; approaches of other institutions to dealing; if a jobber wished to communicate with M & G, would be told to speak to the broker; price agreements; asking jobbers to keep prices steady; would deal with an outside merchant bank if believed it was the right place; capacity of old system for sorting out mistakes; dealing outside the Stock Exchange; ARIEL; discussion of the Stock Exchange takes place during 1980s; under old system large clients subsidised the small ones; reasons for outspoken opposition to the abolition of single capacity; conflict of interest under dual capacity; dangers of overtrading/loss of personal relationships; pressure put on the Stock Exchange by the Bank of England; reactions to David Hopkinson's outspokenness; reaction of investing institutions to Big Bang; possibility of corruption; controls exercised by stockbroking partnerships; possibility of fund manager insider trading; City no longer a happy place to work in; contrast between people now active in the City and those involved when David Hopkinson started his career; weakness of Stock Exchange charging system; stupidity of the Stock Exchange.