The Jobbing System of the London Stock Exchange: An Oral History
Ref.No.: 36 Playback No.:

Interviewee's surname: Hill	Title:   Mr
Interviewee's forenames:   Kenneth George
Date of birth:       June 1932	Sex:   Male

Date(s) of recording:   10 August 1990
Location of interview:   Home
Name of interviewer:    Bernard Attard
Type of recorder:    Marantz CP 430
Total no. of tapes:  2      2  Speed:
Type of tape:      TDK AR-60  Noise reduction: DBX
Mono or stereo:    Stereo    Original or copy:
Additional material:  Copyright/Clearance : CMH; no restrictions

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Tape 1, Side 1

Birth in south London in 1932; parents; father employed in the National Debt Office; grandparents; assumed he would follow in his father's footsteps; through father, obtains a job with Mullens & Co; had taken an interest in the Stock Exchange while at school; many boys at school went into the City; aged 20 when starts; first jobs delivering stock and running messages; description of the firm and its offices; the work routine; the nature of the firm's business, mainly gilt-edged, including the government brokerage; career as a checking clerk and blue button; early impressions of the Stock Exchange; becomes an authorised clerk, member and, in about 1970, a partner; nature of duties as an authorised clerk; description of some of the jobbing firms in the gilt market; contrast of gilt market with the rest of the Stock Exchange; the way in which Mullens organised its business; separation of government business from client business in about 1975; business that Kenneth Hill was doing as an authorised clerk; the way he learnt his dealing skills; dealing etiquette; Mullens careful not to throw its weight around; terror when first starts as an authorised clerk; difficulties associated with dealing on the first day of a new issue; would go to certain jobbers with certain kinds of orders; advantages of being in a physical market place; jobbers in the gilt-edge market during the early part of his career: Jimmy Priestley, Dick Wilkins, Dick Russell, Cecil Wheatley, Herbert Wilson, Johnny Johnson, Garth Harvey, Stanley Mumford, Peter Black; the qualities of these jobbers; kind of information a jobber would give you; significance of gold and convertible currency figures; kind of information jobbers would give Kenneth Hill when he was the government dealer; kind of problems that Mullens would be alert to, eg. a firm over trading; bond washing; censure of the jobbing firms concerned; the Bank Rate Tribunal; description of the way a change in Bank Rate would be announced.

Tape 1, side 2

Continuation of description of the way a change in Bank Rate would be announced; reactions of jobbers to a change in Bank Rate; assistance the Government Broker would give the jobbers; basis on which Government Broker would bid for stock; Kenneth Hill becomes the dealer to the Government Broker; relationship with the Government Broker and description of their respective daily routines; importance of knowing the market and keeping the jobbers happy; intricacies of allocating tap stock; assisting jobbers who had made mistakes; did not mix socially with Stock Exchange people; relationship with brokers; cases where he would intervene when a broker felt he had been unfairly treated; cases where Kenneth Hill acts like the village policeman; disappearance of the small jobber in the gilt market; Akroyd and Wedd very competitive; encourages the smaller firms to stay in business; reasons for Smith Brothers failing to succeed in the gilt market; Pinchin never able to get its act together; recruitment policies of jobbing firms; qualities of successful jobbers; the period when Government Broker was a heavy seller of stock; importance of Bank Rate and the dollar rate; gilt strikes; impact of Arab wealth on the gilt market; 1974 recession.

Tape 2, side 1

The collapse of Burmah Oil; circumstances in which would buy stock from the jobbers; almost always £25 million; change of policy associated with the issue of 'Competition and Credit Control'; problems associated with firms overtrading and assistance provided by the Government Broker and other jobbers; undercapitalisation of firms; type of people who went into the Stock Exchange; relationships between jobbers and brokers; type of information Kenneth Hill would give jobbers; insider trading as applied to the gilt market; example of having to warn jobbers of a particular situation in the market; type of information would not give a jobber; would take an interest in the level of demand in the market; concern about the level of commission paid to brokers; system of-payment for undertaking government business; separation in Mullens of commercial business from government brokerage; window on the market provided by commercial business; role of Mullens in planning reorganisation of gilt market; lack of capital in the jobbing system; change in Stock Exchange during Kenneth Hill's career; outstanding jobbers of later period of his career: Brian Peppiatt, John Hutchinson and Michael Everson; qualities of these people; irreverence of the Stock Exchange; memories of tramps collecting cigarette butts outside the Stock Exchange.

Tape 2, side 2

Felt at times would have been able to do a jobber's job; difference between jobbers and brokers; under dual capacity never sure whether someone is telling the truth; sense of responsibility for people in the firm; attitude of older partners to the firm; post of government dealer incorporated into Bank of England; retirement; merger between Mullens, Akroyd and Warburg; satisfaction with Stock Exchange career.