Alan Yarrow

Many financiers seem to work on the principle that in order to get on, it's best to keep switching firms. But Alan Yarrow, who in January became a vice chairman of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, is an example of the advantages of staying put. Admittedly, "whenever I've felt like moving, something's happened to the firm where I've been working," he says.

Yarrow, who has spent his entire career in equities, has effectively been taken over twice, first by Kleinwort Benson in 1986 while at Grieveson Grant, and then in 1995 by Dresdner Bank. He now finds himself head of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson's global equities division, and a member of the main combined bank board.

Yarrow has the calm, cheerful air of a Nato army officer - he refers to his London-based compatriots as "the Brits" and is reputedly excellent at instilling loyalty but himself has a very European outlook.