"My only expectation is that I am going to continue to work my ass off"
John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley responds when asked if the firm had exceeded his expectations in the two years since his return
"I made a presentation about my business to 50 bright new graduates the other day. At the end of it I said: ‘So, who in this room wants to come and work in high grade debt?’ One person put their hand up"
A head of debt syndicate explains the difficulties of attracting the best talent to investment grade debt when there’s more money, and more excitement, to be had in private equity and hedge fund coverage
"I got home on Friday night and said to my wife: ‘Honey, I had a great year last week’"
A Wall Street bank president puts a personal spin on the manic levels of global M&A activity, and the record fees that go with it
"The cost of doing business today is significantly higher than during the bubble in 2000. Then, you only had to overpay for people in the tech or telco markets. Now, you have to pay over the odds for everybody"
A Wall Street head of investment banking explains the pressure on costs that the current boom times have on P&L
"AAA? You were wooed, Mr Moody’s and Mr Poor’s, by the makeup, those six-inch hooker heels and a ‘tramp stamp’. Many of these good looking girls are not high-class assets worth 100 cents on the dollar’’
Bill Gross of Pimco’s Total Return Fund gently questions the rating agencies approach to evaluating sub-prime mortgage-backed CDOs