"Emerging markets to investors are a bit like bankers to taxi drivers — not exactly flavour of the month."
The next crisis cab off the rank could be emerging markets, according to this markets head
"When you have a great rainmaker, the next 10 guys beneath him are all idiots, because they’re just there to serve the rainmaker"
The famed ‘benches of talent’ at leading firms may not be all they are cracked up to be, says this former investment banker
"This is Soros time"
An investor warns that the outflows from emerging markets should be taken seriously
"The whole world acknowledges that equity is riskier than debt. But they are not warning people not to invest in the stock market. The equity market is down 3% this week – no second-lien loan in the world is down 3% this week"
A banker reckons the regulators are biased against debt
"No one says that the equity market is mispriced when people are paying 12, 13, 14 times PE multiples – no one says this is overpaying for mispriced equity assets. And when the equity market goes down no one talks about bad underwriting – they call it an overdue correction. But if a second-lien leveraged loan trades down this is bad underwriting and creates systemic risk... even though it has been 100% distributed by the bank"
The sense of grievance in the loan market over regulatory interference in leveraged lending is palpable
"I remember meeting you with my boss at the start of the European sovereign debt crisis when he told you that Europe would get through because its populations could take a 10% or 15% cut in living standards and would just have to put up with that. It really struck a chord with me and I recall making a note to myself: ‘never, ever say anything like that to a journalist’"
A banker cautiously discusses with Euromoney signs of recovery following austerity in Europe’s periphery