City boys can kiss lavish life goodbye; AUTHOR.

THE collapse of Lehman Brothers has rocked the global economy with millions of Brits braced for financial meltdown.

But for many traders, the demise signals something more alarming - the end of life as a city boy. In this account, former trader Geraint Anderson, 35, lifts the lid on the kind of excesses that traders can kiss goodbye.

'IN the years of excess leading up to the Lehman Brothers crash on Monday, I'd seen it all.

The traders raked in cash by selling mortgage-backed securities they knew would explode at a later date. Now, to quote Mr Schwarzenegger, it's payback time.

No more strutting around in pounds 3,000 tailor-made Ozwald Boateng suits or being driven around in Porsches and Ferraris.

I've been dragged to strip joints where I've seen married traders throw pounds 2,000 on private dances, supping Cristal champagne and snorting numerous grams of Bolivia's finest marching powder.

I took clients for a pounds 1,000 noshup at Petrus. They had a pounds 30,000 bottle of wine the waiter assured me was purchased quite often.

I've even been asked by clients to procure high-class prostitutes - but, hand on heart, always refused, claiming I couldn't get a receipt to claim on expenses!

Apparently, that wasn't the case with a group of City boys I knew that spent pounds 25,000 each on a long weekend in Ibiza in a private jet.

And I still remember the time a group of clients were flown out (by private jet) to the Monaco Grand Prix. They were greeted with pounds 2,000 of lobster and bubbly and the best seats at the race.

Some of these guys were just 23 years old and were even allowed to "meet and greet" the drivers.

But the trip set their investment bank back at least pounds 10,000 a head.

On another occasion a bunch of brokers travelled first class to New York for a one-day shopping trip - justifying it by claiming they were exploiting the weak dollar (the flights cost pounds 5,000 each).

And I still have fond memories of a five-day all-expenses kneesup in Las Vegas - for a conference.

Essentially, we spent days gallivanting round the poshest restaurants and the classiest strip joints, wasting vast amounts of cash at blackjack. One bloke lost EUR30,000.

The bank I worked for took most of the hit, but I came out pounds 7,000 poorer. Just another tale from the lavish lifestyle Lehman traders will no longer enjoy.'

City Boy: Beer And Loathing In The Square Mile by Geraint Anderson, is on sale now.

CAPTION(S):

EXCESSES Geraint Anderson