Sir Michael Richardson, friend of former UK prime minister Lady Margaret Thatcher and in his heyday one of the UK's most illustrious figures in corporate finance, has in effect been banned from the City of London for life.

An appeals tribunal has upheld an earlier decision by the Securities and Futures Authority that the 76-year-old Richardson is &quotno longer fit and proper to be registered&quot with it in any capacity. Richardson, whose career embraced senior positions at Hawkpoint, Rothschild, Cazenove and Smith New Court, has been expelled from the SFA's registers.