"That deal was an ambulance-chasing, low fee, beauty parade ordeal, which we were very happy to do for the league table credit"
A Japanese M&A banker dishes out some refreshing honesty on the reasons why banks do certain deals
"The deal guys can’t help themselves. They just have to shoot their guns"
One investor worries that leveraged firms with cash burning a hole in their pockets will revisit the mistakes of 2005 to 2008
"This is a question of excess overhang. People are comparing this overhang with the old overhang"
One private equity executive suggests that the volume of uncommitted cash in the industry may be exaggerated
"We’re all used to the ‘Swiss Finish’, but it comes at a price. UBS is probably saving SFr2 billion a quarter by not paying a dividend but now needs to raise another SFr18 billion of capital. So investors who bought UBS shares from the government might not be seeing one before 2013"
One Swiss banker calculates the impact of the latest capital proposals from the Swiss Federal Council
"Morale at the FSA is very low right now. They seem to be delegating an awful lot to the Federal Reserve which is making the running on all the really important stuff, like risk management systems"
Euromoney asks one banker what he makes of FSA chief executive Hector Sants’ speech on culture and ethics