One of Scotland’s most high-profile businessmen has been announced today as the next chair of Scottish Ballet.
Jim Pettigrew, who recently retired as chairman of Virgin Money, will take the role at the organisation’s annual general meeting in December, succeeding Norman Murray, who has led the board for seven years.
The question of how Scotland — a relatively rich and prosperous country, but with low productivity — can reach its true potential was among the topics debated at a recent gathering of business people, politicians and academics in Glasgow.
The £1.7bn merger between Virgin Money and CYBG has gone ahead this morning (15 October).
Earlier this year the two challenger banks agreed to a takeover deal which they claimed would create "the first true national competitor to the large incumbent banks."
Jim Pettigrew, chairman of CYBG, said: "I am delighted we have completed the acquisition of the Virgin Money business".
Today is the 70th anniversary of the Waverley's maiden launch on the Clyde and Jim Pettigrew, a long-time supporter of the charity behind the world's oldest operational seagoing paddle steamer, is marking the occasion with a trip aboard his beloved vessel along the Thames.
That was the conclusion of our expert judging panel as they set about whittling down the record number of entries for The Courier Business Awards 2016.
After a hotly debated judging session at the awards new home at Apex City Quay Hotel in Dundee, the first element of the judging process is now complete and today we reveal the excellent local firms that have made it through to the next stage of the 2016 competition.
Jim Pettigrew, unveiled as the next chairman of Scottish Financial Enterprise, has declared the financial sector north of the Border has “huge potential” and emphasised the importance of its “role in society”.
Financial services industry veteran Mr Pettigrew, who is chairman of Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank, will succeed merchant banker Sir Ewan Brown as chairman of SFE on July 1. Sir Ewan is retiring from the role, having held it for four years.
In the backlash against the herd mentality and “casino-style” behaviour that laid the foundations for the financial crash, regulators of all varieties have set down scores of new rules to ensure such a disaster is never repeated.
The name of the game these days is “compliance”, which in itself has become a booming sector as firms of every size and description scramble to meet their statutory obligations.
The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland has called for "tough leadership" from politicians and business figures to ensure the City retains a crucial role in global capital markets.
In a speech in front of Lord Mayor of London Alan Yarrow at the Mansion House, ICAS president Jim Pettigrew said: "The City has been the most remarkable success story for the UK economy since the industrial revolution.
While stock markets may finally be clambering out of the doldrums, high-flyers across the City of London continue to cry into their half-empty glasses of champagne. An end to the recession still seems to be a distant glimmer and investors remain cautious about pumping their money into funds.
But one man seems unperturbed by the ongoing doom and gloom. Jim Pettigrew, chief executive of spread betting firm CMC Markets, bounces into his large and airy boardroom in Tower Hill, smiling broadly and proclaiming that he feels "fantastic".
There are a number of titles Jim Pettigrew could opt for - nicest guy in the City, fastest talker or biggest hair - but he is a shoo-in for Best Nose for Financial Genius. The self-effacing Scotsman has, in turn, hitched his wagon to three of London’s most successful entrepreneurs and, on the way, become a success in his own right. Not that he would admit it. “Please don’t write that I was responsible for all of Icap’s success,” is his parting plea.
Jim Pettigrew likes to be boring. Boring is good. The more boring, the better. “I am a very cautious man, being a Scottish chartered accountant – and from the east coast, as well,” the recently installed FD of Ashmore Group tells us.
That much we already knew: when we interviewed Pettigrew in mid-2003 he was the finance director of ICAP, an inter-dealer broker that had grown to the point where it was handling $500bn (£255bn) a day and yet he managed to make the job sound strictly textbook: “You just have to have resilient systems that are scalable…” he told us then.
Ashmore Investment Management, one of Britain's fastest growing emerging market fund managers, is set to announce plans to float in move that could see its boss receive a windfall worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Weekend reports suggested that Ashmore hopes for a valuation of more than £1bn. Mark Coombs, the managing director, controls 60 per cent of the group.
For a company that’s still only just approaching the back door of the FTSE-100, ICAP is a pretty remarkable business. The numbers attached to this, the largest inter-dealer broker in the world, make it necessary to double- or even triple-check all the key facts – they just seem too enormous. We wonder if we have the right number of zeros, the right time period – the right currency, for that matter.
The former chairman of the Clydesdale Bank is to take over at the helm of Dundee Heritage Trust.
Dundee-born Jim Pettigrew, who recently retired from the bank, will take over in October.
He will succeed Andy Lothian, who is to step down after 11 years at the charity, which looks after RRS Discovery and Verdant Works.
Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) has appointed Philip Grant of Lloyds Bank as its new chairman.
The representative group for the financial services industry in Scotland has announced that he will succeed Jim Pettigrew at the end of his three-year term, subject to members’ approval.
