FTSE: The Inside Story

Description

A RINGSIDE SEAT ON SOME OF THE BIGGEST DEALS AND BIGGEST PERSONALITIES IN BUSINESS AND GLOBAL POLITICS.

FTSE is an account of how a small start-up created by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange launched in the mid 1980s to provide financial information, became a world leader and one of the UK's most trusted and famous brands. It chronicles how the FTSE 100 was born and details the ferocious dealmaking that followed over 35 years of market boom and bust. It provides a ringside seat on some of the biggest deals and biggest personalities in business and global politics. There have been behind-the-scenes rows with chief executives of some of the world's largest companies, political in-fighting, diplomatic incidents, and even controversy over a pioneering push into responsible investing that began life as a conversation with James Bond actor Roger Moore.

FTSE is a modern British brand recognised the world over, like the Royal Family, the BBC or Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire. They are just four letters on an electronic ticker tape, but FTSE has become a byword for money, power, influence and - crucially after numerous financial crises - trust. How this organisation, FTSE International, brought order to the financial system over several decades is a story of how capitalism globalised and a data revolution transformed the investment industry. It is a story of how a team of British innovators seized an opportunity to build a business that today leads its field and guides the fortunes of an astonishing $16 trillion of funds. It is a story that Mark Makepeace, as the founding Chief Executive of FTSE International, knows better than anybody.

MARK MAKEPEACE offers a unique perspective on the financial services industry. During a 35-year career he was founding Chief Executive of FTSE International and turned a small UK start-up into one of the largest and most successful global index providers - and one of Britain's most famous brands. In 1985, he arrived in the City at the London Stock Exchange as a clerk to co-ordinate Big Bang - and never left. He recently stepped down as Chief Executive of FTSE Russell and from his role as Executive Director responsible for the LSE's information services division.

JAMES ASHTON is a senior financial journalist who has covered some of the biggest economic and corporate stories of recent times. He was City Editor and Executive Editor of the Evening Standard and Independent titles and before that City Editor of the Sunday Times. Today he is a business commentator and interviewer for the Telegraph and Times and produces his own influential leadership podcast, 'Leading with James Ashton'.