Bankers swap golf for bicycles but still fear London's roads

Survey by Saxo Bank finds cycling growing in popularity among City professionals

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (right) training with Saxo Bank capital markets chief Matteo Cassina

It’s official, cycling has overtaken golf and luxury sports cars as the main play thing of City bankers who are increasingly spending more of their earnings on £12,000 carbon fibre super bikes as seen in the Tour de France.

A survey of 315 professional working in London’s financial district conducted by Saxo Bank found that over half believe that cycling has become the most popular sport amongst bankers, especially those earning over £150,000 per year.

Cycling has taken off in the UK since the 2012 Olympic success enjoyed by Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy. According to a recent study by the London School of Economics (LSE), cycling contributes about £2.9bn to the economy.

It has also seen a boom in cycling business with racing bicycles similar to the machines ridden by professional cyclists retailing for figures close to the value of a family car. According to the LSE study, 3.7m bicycles were sold in 2010, marking a 28pc increase in sales. Of the total number of bicycles sold, £51m worth were made in the UK.

However, the survey also found that the overwhelming number of bankers who use a bicycle to commute in London do not feel safe on the capital’s busy roads. Three quarters of those surveyed said they did not feel safe when riding in the City.

In January, Boris Johnson approved the construction of a segregated cycling “superhighway” across the City to help boost road safety after a growing number of cyclists being killed on London’s roads. The scheme is part of £900m of work intended to boost cycling across London.

“The set up in London is at least 20 years behind a place like Copenhagen in Denmark,” said Matteo Cassina, chief executive of Saxo Bank Capital Markets, who also heavily involved in the company’s sponsorship of the sport. “The set up in London is at least 20 years behind Copenhagen and it could take at least a generation to change that.”

Saxo Bank is one of the main sponsors of the Tinkoff-Saxo professional cycling team alongside the Russian consumer credit billionaire Oleg Tinkov. Due to the growing popularity of the sport with brokers in the City, the bank is shifting towards using cycling to build bridges with its wealthy clients.

The bank has launched a “Ride like a Pro” campaign that will involve the Tour de France team’s coaches training 30 of its close clients who are fanatical about cycling throughout the year.

“We want to bring some of our clients closer to the sport,” said Mr Cassina in an interview with the Telegraph.

Mr Cassina recently got back into cycling after being fanatical about the sport as a boy in Italy. He was instrumental in the bank's Tour de France team, which boasts top contenders like previous winner Alberto Contador.

As part of its "Ride like a Pro" programme it has also set up some of the teams riders with share trading accounts to see if any of their skills in the peleton can be transfered to the dealing room floor.

Tinkoff Saxo rider share dealing rankings

Cycling has grown in popularity especially with 40-year-old men who have become known as MAMIL's, or middle aged men in Lycra.

"I got to 40 and my wife said why don't you buy a new bike," said Mr Cassina. "I did and I also bought the company which built it."

Mr Cassina owns the Italian bicycle maker Passoni.