Punk who became banker explains his career path
In a Venn diagram of how people working in banking spent their youth, there's will always be a significant proportion who were members of finance societies and ran their own small portfolios. But, it seems there's also a not insignificant minority who had green hair and nose piercings.
Guy Hands, CEO of private equity fund Terra Firma, is a self-confessed former punk/lover of punk music. So is ex-Lazard banker Matthieu Pigasse. So too is former Lloyds Bank financial institutions group (FIG) MD and ex-head of FIG banking for EMEA at Sumitomo, Richard Bowser. And Bowser is reverting to type.
Bowser graduated from the University of Manchester in 1999 with a financial services degree, but it seems that finance was not his first love. In the 1980s, he was a punk according to his LinkedIn profile. He followed punk fashions. He played in punk bands. He spent a decade working for Ace Records, a label that reissues rock, soul, funk, blues, jazz, R&B, garage rock and punk music.
As with many, Bowser was inspired to move into finance by the need to earn money. He says finance was a "lifelong interest" and that although music was his "lifelong passion", it became apparent while working in music he, "wasn’t earning enough money to support a future family."
Two decades later, it seems that Bowser's children might have grown up and that he may have earned enough money in banking - despite working for Lloyds and Sumitomo - to do music again. He left Lloyds this month and is now a professional freelance musician.
"Richard knew he was a visionary and an artist at heart," says Bowser's LinkedIn profile, referring to him in the third person. "He is now determined to showcase his passion for music to the world, fulfilling his lifelong desire and purpose."
Photo by William Mattey from Pexels
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