Quotes of the month

"There’s an intuitive grocer-shop mentality towards bookrunners – ‘three or four for the price of one’ – but when it comes to actually managing the deal you can only have two or three. Otherwise there’s chaos and no responsibility"

Russell Julius, head of global banking for Asia at HSBC, on the fight for fees in Asia ECM

"We are helping our rivals to correct their mistakes. They need to realize their rating information and assessments are wrong"

Guan Jianzhong, the head of China’s Dagong rating agency, elucidates the altruism of his contrarian – and some would say misguided – positions

"It’s not clear how much benefit we got from Operation Twist. But when investors started to worry about the euro we saw a flood into US Treasuries. There is a benefit to being the best-looking horse in the glue factory"

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, on how safe-haven status caps US Treasury bond yields

"Right now, it looks to me like we’ve passed the low point. Maybe 2014 will be a banner year for M&A"

Wishful thinking over the long term from Hermann Prelle of UBS?

"If the government is really able to put in place a successful infrastructure programme that would require funding, the liquidity is there. This liquidity can flow out from the central bank to the projects"

Amando Tetangco, governor of the Philippine central bank, is ready to step in to help build vital projects in the country