Alan Reeve
My life in London and South Africa between 1979 and 1992 working as in International Banker and more specifically as a Foreign Exchange Currency Dealer mostly for Standard Bank of South Africa
I was faced with my first real major decision after finishing school, what to do next? I had been granted dual-citizenship up until the age of 18 but now I had to choose between applying for a Kenyan passport or keep my British passport and leave my beloved home, Kenya. Of course, there really was only one decision, I knew there was no future for me in Kenya and my best chances lay in the UK. It was heart wrenching and the tears flowed down my cheeks on that flight to London. My status throughout the rest of my life was going to be “an international gypsy”.
Although I did manage to pass my 2 “A” levels in English and Economics the chances of me being successful at university and getting a degree was in all honesty a bridge too far, so I sent off job applications to various institutions and I was offered jobs with Messel Stockbrokers and Barclays International Bank in London. The Career Adviser’s advice won the day and I accepted the job at Barclays which in those days had a branch in the West End of London, in Cockspur street, next to Trafalgar Square.
The horror of the prospect of working for the rest of my days in a “boring” 9am to 5pm job in a bank and living in a freezing cold country was uppermost in my mind, however, a few years getting some experience and qualifications was the order of the day!
So, first things first, a chat with my immediate boss on a career path forward meant that I was given “day release” from work every Thursday plus 2 evenings a week after work to go and study for my “Institute of Bankers” qualifications at Hammersmith and West London College. It was hard work but I was studying and learning new subjects which included Accounting, General Principles of Law and Elements of Banking which became very useful later on in my life.
Next, was to try and find an “exciting” job in the bank, if indeed there was one! Another chat with my immediate boss gave me an opportunity to spend a few weeks working in all the departments of the bank starting with the “Cashiers”, working with extremely attractive women all day was definitely a plus and seeing the workings of the “Securities” department confirmed to me that turning down the job at Messel’s was absolutely the right decision. Finally, there it was, the “Trading” department, the bank’s currency dealing room for me, was love at first sight. The dealing room was absolute mayhem, loads of screaming and shouting, phones permanently ringing, unprintable language with every other word beginning with F***, just heaven on earth and perfect for me – here was my future but how could I get there? A firm absolutely no way from my immediate boss, so I needed a plan B.
My parents bought a flat in Dunraven House along Kew Road overlooking Kew Gardens near Richmond in London and in order to teach me how to manage my salary every month, I paid nominal rent, took out a small loan for an old car, joined the Barclays Bank sports club in Ealing and played Squash and Football for the Bank.
Passing the Bankers Examination Course
1980 – What a year! This was certainly a year to remember, my 21st birthday was celebrated with a party at the Barclays Bank Sports Club in Ealing, West London. Extracts from my father’s speech echoed my thoughts and opinions.
A back operation made me even more determined to get out of London and back to Africa as soon as possible.
As soon as I recovered from my operation, I walked across Trafalger Square and into the South Embassy where I submitted an application to emigrate from the UK to South Africa. The Embassy encouraged me to apply for a position in the banks as a currency trader and my big break-through came when Standard Bank of South Africa offered me the position and in addition to that, they would hold the post open until all emigration formalities were competed.
It took a total of 9 months for the formalities to be completed with 80% of my airfare paid for by the South African Government. I officially left the UK on 15 December 1983, stopped over in Kenya for Christmas with the family and onto Johannesburg to start work on 15 January 1983 with Standard Bank – Wow, finally I had accomplished my mission to get out of the freezing cold and into a “Trading” room!
There was one last word from my father who said “Although your intention is not to live in the UK, keep up your voluntary contributions for your UK pension and if all else fails, regard the UK as your ‘lender of last resort’” Invaluable advice!
Christmas celebration, Nyali house, Mombasa, Kenya
Settling down in a new country with my new life was such a great adventure, meeting new friends, working in an exciting and challenging environment, exploring the country and although my back operation had ruled out most contact sports at least I could still play golf !
I lived in commune houses sharing with colleagues and others outside banking, giving me access to a wider network of friends.
Houghton golf club
I also joined Houghton Golf Club which was Standard Bank’s golf club of choice and I was able to enjoy many “Corporate” golfing days with the bank’s clients. I also joined Kempton Park Golf Club which was Ernie Els’s home course, seeing Ernie play before all his fame, was an absolute privilege, many members already knew that he was destined for greatness all those years ago.
I was living in a currency market trading environment, drinking and smoking to excess, trips to Sun City to gamble and play golf, a roller-coaster lifestyle with high highs and low lows.
Weekday lunchtimes with brokers and colleagues consisted of liquid lunches, my drink of choice was Gin and Tonic and so at 11:30am the first glass of 5 measures of gin topped up with tonic and ice was drunk, the second glass produced at 12 noon, the third at 12:30pm, the fourth at 1:00pm and the last one at 1:30pm and then back to work at 2pm to make some more money after drinking a full bottle of gin (25 measures), not to mention the five packets of cigarettes smoked in a day, two packets in the morning, two in the afternoon and the final packet in the evening, living on four hours sleep, bed at 2am and up at 6am to start a brand new party.
Weekends were much the same, Friday evening after work and after a few sundowners at the Sunnyside Hotel, it was off to Sun City, a couple of hours drive from Johannesburg, to gamble. Our mission was to make enough money for 2 night’s accommodation, food and drink for the weekend and 2 rounds of golf. If we failed, it was back to Johannesburg whenever the budget ran out. When we didn’t go to Sun City, it was parties and golf.
My Botswana trip in October 1984 was certainly one of my most memorable and enjoyable holidays. One of my colleagues had a cousin who lived in Botswana, he really was a “bona fide” White African bushman. He offered to take a group of us on a 3-week trip into the Okavango Delta within the Chobe National Park and live “off the land”, what an experience! So, we drove up from Johannesburg and met at his house in Gaberone where we transferred over to the 4×4 with trailer and drove up overnight to Maun in the Northern part of Botswana to stock up with essentials = Beer!
Then, off we went to see the wildlife really close up, including the very rare Carmine Bee Eaters, armed with tents, a portable shower and of course a gun both for food along the way and protection. Every night we lit a fire and always made sure at least two of us were on watch throughout the night, each of us taking it in turns to do a few hours shift. One morning we noticed lion footprints completely encircling our campsite and neither of the two “guards” on watch had not heard or seen them at all, clearly, we were not appetising enough on that occasion. The impala and ostrich steaks were magnificent and the carcasses attracted leopard, lion, hyena, vultures and many other scavengers. A quick hop over the border town of Kasane into Zambia to see the impressive Victoria Falls was well worth the effort. They really are a magnificent set of waterfalls.
Botswana and Victoria Falls trip
The loss of my father
22 February 1986 is a date and one of many milestones etched into my memory forever, the death of my beloved father in the UK, he had suffered from asthma all of his life and after a mitral valve replacement operation he developed complications and other infections set in including bronchopneumonia which ultimately took him from us. I flew from Johannesburg and my mother joined me on the plane in Nairobi as she was in the process of packing up the house in Kenya to retire in England, we flew onto London to bury my father.
My father loved walking in Kew Gardens and loved roses so I scattered his ashes under a rose bush in the grounds of the Mortlake Crematorium near Kew, Richmond, England. He would be joined later on by both my beloved Mother (2016) and my beloved Sister (2022), may they all rest in peace together.
I decided that my golf handicap (12) was going nowhere fast and I needed a platform to help me get me down into single figures again. I signed up for a week’s tuition with the Scottburgh Golf School with the professional golfers Wayne Westner and Gavin Levinson in attendance. A life changing experience modelling my swing on Gavin’s as he was similar in stature and I stacked up my video up against the one of the “great’s”. I achieved my objective and was able to play to single figures for the next few years until my back issues returned and I was unable to walk around a golf course. However, I was to return to regular golf in my later years (2016) when the fluid had dried up inside my disc causing less discomfort but it also left me with much less flexibility.
Marriage
There comes a point in everyone’s life when it feels to be the right time to buy property, get married and have children, 1987 was that year, I bought a house and met the woman who would later become my wife. Our first date was on Valentine’s Day, she worked in another department of the bank which was how we met. We went on trips around South Africa, Greece and to the UK to meet my mother, my sister and my two nephews. Business trips included a trip to Israel to attend the 25th International Junior Forex Seminar.
After a two-year courtship, we got married on 25 Feb 1989 and spent our honeymoon in Mauritius, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
My wedding day, Johannesburg house, South Africa
The bank assigned me the task of heading up a Dutch Guilder vs the USD dealing desk and as part of that process I went on a business trip to visit banks in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany to set up credit lines and soon after the Dutch Guilder desk was implemented at Standard Bank. I had also been looking at ways to increase profits and had spent time devising a system where the bank could have a presence in the market 24 hours a day, after discussions with my chief dealer, a 24-hour currency trading desk was set up with 3 eight-hour shifts, a world first, and Standard Bank now had a global 24-hour presence in the forex markets Mondays to Fridays. I then set up dealing desks for another 3 banks.
Between December 1989 and March 1990, I was employed by Central Merchant Bank, Johannesburg, South Africa, as a Senior Dealer – Speculative Trading with responsibilities where I implemented and launched a 24-hour speculative currency trading desk. Recruited, counselled, encouraged, supervised a new team of dealers. Then, between March 1990 and March 1991, I moved onto Standard Merchant Bank, Johannesburg, South Africa, employed as a Senior Dealer – Technical Trading with responsibilities where I modernised, developed technical speculative trading. Forecast currency fluctuations, liaised and guided a team of currency dealers.
Between April 1991 and January 1992, I was employed by Société Generale of South Africa Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa as a Senior Dealer – Major Currencies with responsibilities where I implemented and administered technical analysis systems. Edited and marketed a daily forex commentary page. Publicised and broadcast currency views world-wide. Helped and advised clients on the currency markets. Trained and coached a team of 12 currency dealers.
It felt as if I was standing on the top of Mount Everest and with only one way to go from there, things inevitably started to unravel.
The banks were happy to take the profitable systems, making me surplus to requirements, and my wife followed suit using the legal system to take control of our joint assets as we were married “in community of property”.
The end of an era. I booked a passage on a container boat as a paying passenger with a suitcase containing what was left of my personal effects from Durban to Felixstowe, England (it felt like the slow boat to China) and during that 4-week voyage on 31 July 1992 I put out my last cigarette and drank my last spirit, I would never smoke again and limited my alcohol intake to wine and beer only, from that day forth.
My 3rd and final vow was to never marry again.