“If you take into account the deals that people took a run at but didn’t get over the line there has been a staggering increase in activity”
This banker finds that the volume numbers look better when you include both what did, and what didn’t, happen
“Of course we can grow revenues in 2015. We think there’s a big business opportunity for us in helping other banks shed problem assets to investors desperate for yield and duration. We know that market really well. After all, we’ve had so many problem assets of our own to get rid of.” Euromoney admires the optimism of this head of investment banking
“It’s actually a relief no longer to be claiming we can be all things to all men. It’s much better to specialize in markets where we’re really strong. That’s why we’ve moved to a generalist customer coverage model.” He’s finding parts of this whole business-model-restructuring thing a bit tricky though
“With TLAC it’s important to bear in mind that loss absorbing capital won’t be fungible within banking groups and they will be resolved legal entity by legal entity. So it’s tough for investors to take a view on which instruments will bear losses and on the severity of losses. Banks haven’t yet agreed their resolution plans with regulators. Even when they do, these won’t be made public. And if it comes to resolution, these plans probably won’t be followed anyway. Separate resolution authorities will seize whatever they can. It’s best to assume that anything that’s not secured is bail-in-able.” The more this capital solutions banker tries to explain resolution planning, the scarier it sounds
“The leveraged loan market is in good and shape and healthy, you can see that to some extent in the good volumes of covenant-lite loans we have had this year.” Unsurprisingly one head of leveraged finance seems to be mistaking growth in a top-of-the-market-product for a healthy development