SECPAC BUYS FIRST, SORTS OUT LATER
Security Pacific (SecPac), the 26th largest bank in the world, with assets of $53 billion, has unleashed a full-scale assault on London. Only 16 months ago its Eurosecurities operation employed two people; it now numbers over 80. By the end of the year, the new entity expects to have pulled in over 120 proven personnel from across the City in a determined bid to join the Euromarket establishment.
SecPac is also attacking London's equity market. Having beaten the competition to acquire one of Britain's top brokerage houses, Hoare Govett, SecPac will become a major player in London's new deregulated gilts and equities markets.
But some doubt whether an unknown newcomer can survive in an arena where even the elite are rolling up their sleeves for some tough financial fights ahead.
"They have certainly got the cheque book out," commented the London chief of one commercial bank that has managed to make a success of its Euromarket operation. "But it is highly unlikely they will do well, unless they are prepared to lose a lot of money. They just don't have the name."
SecPac's chairman, Richard Flamson, is the man who coined the phrase: "We never bet the company."