Michael qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1971. After qualifying he joined Deloitte in London, later moving to their Paris office. He was a Corporate Finance Executive with Charterhouse Group (now part of HSBC) and also held responsibility for a large commercial and industrial property portfolio owned by the bank, acting as a Director of a number of its European subsidiaries. Most of his career has been devoted to the Financial Services sector, where he has been a Founder, CEO or senior director of regulated businesses, including general and life insurance and pension investment.