A sigh of relief was heard in the august City offices of NM Rothschild as boss Sir Evelyn de Rothschild bowed out. Baron David de Rothschild (pictured), a distant cousin and saviour of the French family bank, is taking over by merging the French and English assets.
However, Sir Evelyn’s words in an interview (“I’m not giving up; I’m not retiring or anything. Things happen in this world where people are called back”) must have struck fear into the heart of his successor, an inspired banker with a legendary charm sadly lacking in his English counterpart (see The Banker, September 2001).