Installation Dinner at Merchant Taylors' Hall 2025

The WCIB’s annual Installation Court Dinner will be held on Monday 13 October to celebrate the installation of our Master Elect, Tim Skeet, and of our three Wardens Elect, Ali Miraj, Jordan Buck and Peter Green. The event will be held once again at Merchant Taylors' Hall on Threadneedle Street.

We are delighted to welcome the Chairman of aberdeen group plc, Sir Douglas Flint CBE, as our guest speaker. We are also very grateful to Bank of China for their generous sponsorship of this event.

Dress is black tie for men (with orders and decorations) and either long or short evening dresses or evening trousers for ladies. Tickets cost £150 incl VAT.

Bookings close on 21 September after which no refunds will be given.

The Chinese-themed evening will start with a reception at 6:30pm before we are called in to dinner at 7:15pm. After dinner (which will end around 10:15pm), a Stirrup Cup (a final drink) will be offered and the evening will end at 11:15pm.

You are welcome to bring up to three guests – friends, family or work colleagues. Don’t forget that you need to pay for your guests. And don’t forget to add their name(s) to your booking so they can be sent a ‘pour memoire’ and can be added to the seating plan. Please also fill in the relevant boxes on the booking form if you/they have any dietary requirements or seating requests.

An electronic 'pour memoire' will be sent for this event to the email address(es) you used to book your ticket(s).

About our speaker: Sir Douglas Flint CBE

Sir Douglas is Chairman of aberdeen group plc, one of the UK’s largest international asset managers. He also chairs IP Group plc which seeks to evolve great ideas in science and technology into world-changing businesses. Outside the financial sector he chairs The Royal Marsden hospital and charity.

Previously, Sir Douglas was Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc between 2010 and 2017 and for the 15 years prior to that he was HSBC’s Group Finance Director, joining from KPMG where he was a partner. Between 2005 and 2011 he was also a Non-Executive Director of bp plc. During his HSBC career, Mr Flint was a member of both the Mayor of Beijing’s and the Mayor of Shanghai’s International Business Leaders’ Advisory Councils.

He is a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's international advisory panel, and sits on the boards of the International Chamber of Commerce UK and the Institute of International Finance.

Sir Douglas received his CBE in 2006 and knighthood in 2018 recognising his services to the finance industry

About our sponsor: Bank of China

Established in 1929, Bank of China London Branch is the first business established by any Chinese institution in an international financial centre. Its history in the UK perfectly illustrates the international journey of China’s modern financial services industry.

Over the past 96 years, Bank of China has expanded steadily in the UK and has become the first choice for both Chinese ‘going-out’ customers and local UK customers seeking to establish relationships with China, with branches in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow.

The Bank, now with nearly 900 employees, has total assets of over £45 billion. It has successfully launched EMA Syndication Center, London Commodity Center, London Trading Center, and Debt Capital Markets Center. The London Branch is taking a leading role amongst UK based Chinese financial institutions and is developing itself into one of the mainstream foreign banks in the EMEA market.