For some, life after a career in finance means the priesthood or opending a restaurant. But Anthony Hotson left Warburg Dillon Read last month to study old stones.
The former head of the firm's global financial institutions group will take a master's degree this autumn. After 20 years of work in the City on demutualization and financial mergers, his attention will turn to those who had a slightly different influence on the Square Mile and beyond: Wren, Gibbs, Hawksmoor and Pugin. He will study British architecture from 1600 to 1850 at London's Courtauld Institute.
Hotson studied politics, philosophy and economics for his undergraduate degree, and has a master's in economics. "I've always wanted to start another career," he says. "I've been saying that I'd only spend one more year in investment banking for so long that my wife stopped believing me."
Hotson spent the first nine years of his career at the Bank of England, then joined Warburg after a short stint at McKinsey. Some of the biggest changes during his time at the firm have been internal: "Even five years ago, you'd never think that Warburg would be sold.