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The success of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, whose parent company is Citigroup, the world’s number one financial services company, is held to validate the theory. However, the industry has recently shown signs of abandoning such grand ambitions.Credit Suisse First Boston last week surprised investors by announcing the closure of its gold trading activities. In May last year, it became the first new member of the London Gold Fixing Council, which sets the benchmark price of gold, in 80 years. Merrill Lynch appeared to be mulling an equivalent retrenchment yesterday. Stanley O’Neal, the president, said he was reviewing the business on a “granular” scale: “Being lean and disciplined is not enough.” Mr O’Neal hinted that the world’s largest stock broker ­ and a household name among US investors ­ was in too many businesses, and was looking to scale back its activities in wealth management (catering to the rich) to focus on private banking (catering to the ultra rich) It is unlikely that the review will stop there. The alternative would be to ride out the present downturn in the hope of some sort of revival in the new issues market early next year, with merger work following a couple of quarters later. One obvious area of optimism is the cash-strapped telecoms sector, which bankers see as ripe for defensive consolidation.But whether investment banks sit on their hands or restructure, it is certain that yesterday’s job losses are not the last.

As one senior banker said: “The Square Mile was staffed up for exceptional times. At a guess I’d say the City is only half way through getting back to the right size.”. When I first meet Kelis Rogers, shock-headed, motor-mouthed pop diva, she’s foaming at the mouth. As she opens the door of her hotel room in Covent Garden, west London, a rather large blob of toothpaste dribbles down her chin. When I first meet Kelis Rogers, shock-headed, motor-mouthed pop diva, she’s foaming at the mouth.

As she opens the door of her hotel room in Covent Garden, west London, a rather large blob of toothpaste dribbles down her chin.
“Hi, I’m Kelis,” she says brightly, beckoning me in with her toothbrush The room is strewn with clothes, bottles and magazines. A large trunk, spilling over with shoes, scarves and some fabulous multicoloured coats, sits on the floor MTV blasts from the television. It looks as if she’s been here some time.The singer eventually emerges from the bathroom, smothered in face-cream.”Sorry about the mess,” she yells over the music. “It’s a wreck, but I haven’t been home for months.”Kelis shouts a lot, although that’s not entirely surprising. Her debut single, “Caught Out There”, a cautionary tale about infidelity, is best known for its thunderous chorus: “I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW AAAAAAAARGH!” The song wasn’t personal, she says.

It arose from listening to the experiences of other people, in particular her sisters. Is she sick of it yet? “For a while I hated it, but now I just think it’s my song. When we were recording it, I knew it was pretty intense but I thought, ‘Well, they’ll love it or they’ll hate it but at least they won’t miss it.’”It’s always been difficult to know where to place Kelis. She has the voice of a classic soul diva, though musically she casts her net a lot wider. On her forthcoming album Wanderland, you can hear traces of R&B (“Scared Money, “Flash Back”), soul (“Shooting Stars”), hip hop (“Daddy”), rock (“Young, Fresh n’ New”, “Perfect Day”) and even a touch of Eighties synth (“Easy Come, Easy Go”). On tour, Kelis travels with a huge live band and has become notorious for her raucous covers of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”. The singer’s eclectic impulses are matched by those of her producers, Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, aka The Neptunes, who recently released their own album under the moniker NERD.”People have very different perceptions of who I am and who I speak to,” she says “I can only do what I do.