Results tagged “HSBC”

RETIREMENT may be a long way from the minds of most Wharfers but HSBC have given everyone food for thought with their latest report.

The banking giant’s insurance arm published their latest Future of Retirement report on Tuesday. The survey of 40,000 people across 25 countries revealed most of us expect to work for longer and are making more detailed provision for retirement, reflecting a growing realisation that we can’t rely on a state pension.

Robert Lang, chief executive of HSBC Life, explained how the report’s findings showed changing attitudes to the challenge of funding retirement.

SIGN UP for a major corporate challenge next month and you’ll find yourself rubbing shoulders with one of rugby’s greats.

Rory Underwood, England’s flying winger during the ’80s and ’90s, is taking part in the Microsoft UK Challenge.

He will join teams from several Canary Wharf companies, including HSBC and Barclays.

The former sporting giant, who now runs high performance development consultancy UPH, said: “I’m really looking forward to it. I’m doing a couple of events, although I don’t quite know what they involve – but then that’s the whole point.

THIS IS the man who proved Wharfers have big hearts when it comes to raising money for charity.

Alun Thomas, deputy global head at HSBC, raised a magnificent £5,000 in last year’s British Heart Foundation Canary Wharf Jog.

Alun, 49, hopes to exceed that total in this year’s event on June 4, and he’s throwing the gauntlet down to the other banks in Canary Wharf to try and beat him.

He said: “I want other banks to take me and HSBC on. We raised more than £100,000 last year but we can do even better this time. It’s a great cause and a really fun event and the banks can be at the forefront of some really significant fundraising.”

Alun’s efforts saw him pick up The Wharf Trophy for raising the highest individual amount, and he revealed his success was due to revising his strategy.

HE’S three stone lighter, is a bit wobbly on his feet and is much hairier, but Alan Lock is a happy man.

The HSBC business analyst, who works in Canada Square, spoke to The Wharf from Barbados after completing the 86-day, 2,800-mile trip across the Atlantic on Sunday (April 6).

Accompanied by rowing partner Matt Boreham, the trip has raised somewhere between £15,000 and£20,000 for the charity Sense.

THE SIX Nations might just have finished but for Canary Wharf rugby players the biggest tournament of the season is about to take place.

The City Scrum touch rugby tournament next Thursday (April 3), at the Honourable Artillery Company in City Road, will see 10 teams from banks and other institutions battle it out to be the City’s top rugby dogs.

The tournament is being organised by law firm Norton Rose, and Canary Wharf is well represented with teams from HSBC, Reuters, Citigroup and Credit Suisse all taking part.

THE FULL Monty hit Canary Wharf and he revealed he’s ready to head off on his own “Tiger hunt”.

Colin Montgomerie chatted to The Wharf about his ambitions for 2008, including trying to topple the world’s best player, Tiger Woods. Currently just outside the world’s top 50, ‘Monty’ hopes to qualify for the US Masters in Augusta next month.

Should he make it he will have to beat Woods to claim the coveted green jacket. Monty feels the American is the hardest player to compete with on the circuit.

TIM HENMAN is tipping Andy Murray to be a smash hit in 2008 – but still thinks Roger Federer is the man to beat.

Henman teamed up with Colin Montgomerie on Tuesday (March 4) for a Sport Relief golf challenge at HSBC’s headquarters in Canada Square (see Colin's interview here) and he spoke to The Wharf about Britain’s hot tennis prospect.

Murray beat world number one Federer in Dubai this week, and Henman said: “Any time you beat Federer is fantastic, so it’s going to give him a great platform to build from.

Wharfers proved they had big hearts when their charity fundraising efforts were recognised at an awards ceremony.

The British Heart Foundation held the event to reward the companies and individuals who made the biggest contributions at the Canary Wharf Jog last June.

The bash, at the Reebok Cafe last Tuesday (February 12), saw HSBC, based in Canada Square, pick up the trophy for raising the highest cash total.

The bank’s impressive £14,156.99 saw it pip local rival Barclays, which raised £13,564.18. Alan Thomas of HSBC won the award for the highest amount raised by an individual, £4,361, which he attributed to the efforts of his PA.

LINKS between the classroom and the boardroom are set to improve as a financial services school moves into new premises on the doorstep of Canary Wharf.

The National Skills Academy for Financial Services officially opens at its new facility in the George Green Building in East India Dock Road today (Thursday, February 21).

The Academy, supported by Canary Wharf firms including Citigroup and HSBC, provides training across a range of financial disciplines for budding Wharf workers from Tower Hamlets. It will be opened by Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority.

Courses have been run at Tower Hamlets College in Poplar for the last 18 months but with £1million
of investment from London Thames Gateway Development Corporation students now have a purpose-designed building in which to work.

RUNNING a marathon is daunting enough but imagine covering the distance and not moving an inch.

That’s the challenge Kyle Coveny, from HSBC Private Bank, set himself when he ran the full 26 miles and 385 yards on a treadmill in Canada Place mall on Wednesday, January 30.

But Kyle’s efforts running on the spot were not in vain as it was all in a good cause, raising money for St Alfege with St Peter’s primary school in Greenwich.