"The worst thing is the uncertainty. Just give us a set of rules and then we’ll figure out how to work round them... I mean work with them"
A senior US banker, discussing Basle III, corrects himself just a moment too late
"He did a great job with the balance sheet but became addicted to KitKats and ballooned. He’s had a bad crisis in terms of his trousers"
A senior figure at a leading European bank ponders the cautionary fate of a well-liked colleague
"Brooksley’s girlfriends tried to rip his nuts off by saying they’re putting a hold on his nomination. It wasn’t hard for Brooksley’s acolytes to whip up a storm and pay Gensler back for embarrassing her 10 years before"
A Wall Street lobbyist explains the machinations behind objections to Gary Gensler becoming chairman of the CFTC from one of his predecessors, Brooksley Born
"You recall the stress test we did last year? Well, the Fed has quietly been forcing us to run versions of it regularly ever since. At first I couldn’t believe we had to keep doing these. But you know, it’s actually quite a good idea"
A bank CFO realises patience may be a virtue
"Who gives a damn if Greece defaults? In the first half of 2010 on an annualized basis China’s imports rose by $500 billion. So China is importing the equivalent of Greece’s economy every eight months"
A banker sums up where global economic power lies