So says Ken Costa, the vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS, reports the FT’s people column.
He has published a book called God at Work: Living every day with purpose, in which he consider the challenges of living out his faith at work and gives “practical advice on tackling the common problems familiar to many: the work-life balance, stress, ambition, failure and disappointment.”
In the book, he describes a moment of epiphany, struck by the looming facades of the Bank of England and the Swiss Bank Corporation:
But then, in a flash, I saw the truth…No bank – Swiss Bank or the Bank of England – would survive the promised return of Christ. Strong as they appeared, their apparent security would be broken in an instant.
The God at Work movement also has a website, where we learn that London-based Mr Costa is also the chairman of Alpha International, which runs the infamous Alpha course. He also stood in 1987 for election to parliament, as the Conservative party candidate for Birkenhead, according to a story in the Times earlier this year.
Mr Costar, who joined SG Warburg in 1976, is nothing if not rigorous in his reading habits:
“As an investment banker in the City of London, I have read the Financial Times and the Bible almost every day for the last 30 years.”
But which has generated the greater return?