The appeal of London? It may just be a matter of time

My Week Lance Uggla might have floated his financial data company Markit on Nasdaq, but the Canadian was evangelical over breakfast about the appeal of running a business in London.

It could be the talent pool from which he has recruited hundreds of staff, some of whom became paper millionaires when the firm which crunches derivatives and bonds trading data and sells it to banking clients was valued at £2.8bn. It could be the burgeoning fintech (financial technology) scene which he watches carefully after buying up 26 firms for a collective £1.1bn since Markit started out in 2003.

Or it could be something as simple as the time zone, quite handy for anyone with global ambitions. Anyone who has ever tried to run an Asian credit portfolio from Toronto will understand that.