Euromoney: "So will they just pick the four banks that pitch the best?"
Banker: "Oh, out of the question. No. The only thing that we’re all sure of is that it’s going to be a crapshoot, I’m expecting some real wildcards to get in on this deal. Who knows what criteria are being used. You do what you can..."
An investment banker in Asia gives us an insight into the fatalistic mindset that can creep in when pitching frontier market clients
Banker: "I’ve never seen such a divergence of views: is inflation the big risk, or deflation? Will rates stay low or spike up quickly?"
Euromoney: "Surely it’s good for the market to have lots of different investors taking different views?"
Banker: "No, because the divergence of views is inside investors’ own heads"
It sounds as if this government bond trader needs to take a break
"My wife called me and said ‘Darling I’ve been online all afternoon trying vote for you [the bank he works for] via that link that always appears at the bottom of your emails, and it keeps on being rejected’"
A banker gets a close-to-home view of the rigours of the Euromoney FX survey voting process
"There’s a new game that’s all the rage here, it’s called: ‘What are the dumb foreigners buying next?’ It’s an easy way to make quick money for the locals if they guess right, but you have to get out fast as well..."
A fund manager in Vietnam describes the cynicism of some local investors