Sir Brian Williamson - An Appreciation

The late Jean-Francois Theodore’s gait suggested some element of discomfort as he arrived in the London CNBC studio sometime after 0700.? “You know I didn’t realize London had such good restaurants until Brian introduced me to Wilton’s…” he stated by means of conversation opener during the ad break as the customary microphone wiring was taking place.

The presenter noted to the effect of “did you have a few drinks then?”

Jean-Francois shrugged a tad listlessly and looked at me in the Guest Host’s chair with a twinkle in his eye:? “Well…you know …Brian… he is such a bon vivant!”?

There will be reams of obituaries in due course - or at least there ought to be! - in the newspapers that specialise in this craft. Hence I won’t endeavour to emulate their resources but I have to mark the passing of a great man with some personal recollections.?

The late JFT (this is ALL too sad on both accounts) was appearing on CNBC to mark his driving a deal to acquire LIFFE from the clutches of the LSE which produced a case study in how not to do M&A from the London exchange. Let’s leave the debate on just what went wrong for another day. JFT was triumphant, albeit a touch jaded on this fine morning thanks to what had proven an enthusiastic celebration with Brian the evening before.

Sir Brian was a man on the cusp of our now modern world of exchanges and the deep analogia of a past which now seems so distant. It was a joy Brian maintained the mannerisms, decorum and dress code more akin to his early experience working in/around the Harold MacMillan administration. However, relying on a gentleman’s appearance to project his views proved disastrously wrong for many who thought Brian was just another posh boy in the City.

Beneath the elegant suits beat the heart of a true revolutionary free marketeer and advocate of exchanges and the technology therein. He watched the wonderment of the pits in Chicago and realised that 1970s Britain could resuscitate its financial centre from a vaguely depressed post-colonial outcrop with the right leadership and inspiration. In the vanguard of establishing LIFFE as part of the original shaping group, Brian went on to chair the nascent organisation and help deliver what was in many ways a totemic achievement facilitated by the great Thatcher golden era of British revival.

It was all done with unstinting politeness but there was a clear glean of ruthlessness as and when the strategy required. Brian had a wondrous circle of appointments during a glittering career, including co-founding GNI a leading futures London brokerage, positions with the NASD, a member of the Court of the Bank of Ireland etc etc. However, just as Brian could have been contemplating a further round of oversight, a call was made that cemented a great reputation into one of genuinely mythic propensity.?

LIFFE was in difficulty. Like Titanic dangling after going iceberg kissy kissy levels of difficulty.? Whisper it softly but it might not have been entirely solvent. The London financial futures market had seemed stellar and unsurpassable during its 15th anniversary mere months before but now it was haemorrhaging cash and in desperate need of a saviour. Behind closed doors, the name “Williamson” was whispered in meeting rooms from the Bank of England to the LIFFE board and right across the City of London.

Frankly, this was an incredible risk. Brian re-entered office with what looked like a slim chance of rescuing the previously leading European futures market. He became executive Chairman, for this was truly a full-time position (and more!). Brian assembled his best team, including empowering many longstanding LIFFErs such as John Foyle and set about digging in for a long slog from insolvency to success once again.

The tragedy of losing the man at the epicentre of the LIFFE birth AND its renaissance is all the more acute when we still had so much to learn from Brian. “It’s still a close run thing” he would candidly remark in private even long after the initial crisis wave had been averted. The whole repositioning of the LIFFE ship was handled with superhuman ability by the team under Chairman Brian and CEO Hugh Freedburg. A complete electronic system LIFFE Connect was built in months, the floor was closed and the LIFFE bureaucracy itself was cleaved from over 1000 to under 400. It was a hugely emotional journey and at all times Brian placed himself front and centre as the voice of the exchange and the key figurehead who could bear the brunt of whatever flack might be passing by. He held clinics with pit traders from day one to listen to their concerns and work on building understanding that the move had to be from floor to screen. Imminently. I remember passing him by on the walk to the LIFFE offices in Cannonbridge, a walk that would talk most five to six minutes was considerably longer in the early days as Brian realised it was vital to have a figurehead presence to listen to concerns and lay out an understanding that change was required and about to happen. The exchange demutualised, new investors were brought into the for profit enterprise and in a matter of months, LIFFE made a lot of parish deal history.

In the end, - and this is a huge abbreviation of a dramatic story - LIFFE survived and continued to thrive. Brian’s reputation was cemented as saviour of the market. When he left office he was rightly knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his incredible services to the City of London and finance as a whole.

There were incredible moments along the way which are now broadly forgotten. The relentless attack of DTB / EUREX carried into EURIBOR where LIFFE had opted for EuroLIBOR. A tiny difference which at one stage looked to be the death of the London exchange just as it got back on its feet. Undeterred, the council of war and the many sounding boards Brian had at his disposal were summoned… Members were consulted and in what amounted to a minor miracle of engineering, the market unanimously agreed, and LIFFE along with LCH were able to change the EuroLIBOR contract into Euribor. Over a weekend!!! At the turn of this century Brian seemed to pull rabbits out of hats like this on various occasions.

There’s so much to say and I have barely touched the surface. My email and WhatsApp have been buzzing as we exchange great Brian stories all weekend in shock and great sadness. This isn’t a loss to the parish, Brian’s death represents a huge hole in our recent parish history of a man whose word was his bond while delivering groundbreaking innovation from the City of London across the world.

Personally - and I know so many of us are in the same position today - I am devastated. Brian was an incredible man, a great supporter, mentor and advocate (he was one of two key very early adopters of “Capital Market Revolution!” in 1999 to whom I remain forever indebted).

Sir Brian’s last major public appearance in the parish was to deliver one of his typically magnificent speeches, honed from his time in the Trinity College Literary/Debating Society. He paid tribute to another original thinker, Nick Carew-Hunt, who had played a key role in this amazing LIFFE story. It’s impossible to believe that a man evidently in his prime only months ago has been so cruelly taken from us far far too soon.

RIP Sir Brian Williamson, the template for a great exchange Chairman was built in your image.

PLY

PS I will happily add to this article as subscribers wish, it’s important to remember the many great messages delivered by Brian’s incredible and rather selfless, service to markets.