CITY DIARY

Accountants are not usually known for their snappy dress sense, but a team of four from Ernst & Young have just picked up the fancy dress prize at a Children in Cities charity event.

The "nautical style" celebration involved pursuing hidden treasure on a trail from the Cutty Sark to the Royal Observatory. Those not solving clues or dressing up opted instead for a champagne reception, where Sir David Scholey, chairman of SG Warburg, who helped lead this year's campaign for Children in Cities, could be found. Needless to say the treasure was plundered by a team from Insead.

The word from Saatchi & Saatchi is that the loss of the Mars account has been followed by the removal of the numerous vending machines that dispensed Mars Bars ice-creams and their replacement with machines dispensing Cadbury's products.

These may be rocky times for Baring Securities, but they can still recruit. A new senior chemicals analyst, Joel Scheiman, has joined the company in Tokyo to work on the Japanese team. He comes from Goldman Sachs, where he was sector analyst covering pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

Unemployment may be rising but some firms still can't get the right staff. A computer software firm, 4-Sight International, which specialises in graphics software for the communications industry, is offering up to £3,000 in rewards for those who can find experienced software experts. Six £500 rewards will be paid to whichever third parties send in the CVs of the successful applicants.

Someone should do a survey correlating sporting with business achievement. Touche Ross has just appointed Peter Gratton and Paul Zimmerman as corporate finance partners. Both have been with the corporate finance division since 1988 and admit to sporting interests in their spare time.

In the other court, Nikko Europe appointed a former member of no fewer than three British Winter Olympic teams, Michel de Carvalho, as co-chairman. With a blue-chip background with the likes of Credit Suisse First Boston and NM Rothschild & Sons, he also competed in the Tour de France's one- day amateur race.

The competition in the lucrative world of bureaux de change is gathering pace. First the Post Office rolls out its currency service and then Abbey National buys a third stake in Travelex, the world's largest passenger terminal currency exchange operation.

Travelex has now made a deal with British Airways to provide an exclusive world-wide currency service to its Executive Club members.

Those with any spare change at the end of their globe trotting can use Travelex's revolutionary coin changing machines.

Sir Christopher Hogg is moving on from one uplifting manufacturer to another. Soon to step down from the chairmanship of Courtaulds Textiles, maker of the Gossard Wonderbra, Sir Christopher has just added the deputy chairmanship of Allied Domecq, producer of spirits, wines and ciders - to his collection. Sir Christopher is still non-executive chairman of Courtaulds, Reuters Holdings, a director of the Bank of England and of SmithKline Beecham. Sir Christopher, who long ago used to ride his bicycle to work, would have found this skill handy should he ever have had to visit Allied Domecq's latest joint venture in mainland China, where good bike-riding skills are at a premium.