“Financial institutions should put customers’ needs first”, according to a report published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on May 24. But should their services extend to matchmaking for young journalists? One of Euromoney’s débutant hacks was secretly pleased on a recent trip back from Moscow when his host bank’s head of IR forgot her passport: the subsequent delay meant a missed flight back to London, and a chance to watch the Champions’ League final in Vienna with the bank’s PR man and a gentleman from the Austrian media.
The hard-working flack rang round every hotel in Vienna, desperately seeking two single rooms for his guests, and was on the verge of giving up when he finally got a result. Would the gentlemen mind sharing a double bed in a downtown apartment? Euromoney prides itself on its open-minded stance, and on his return our man was pleased to find himself facing not a single “hide-the bratwurst” type gag.
Still, he has yet to hear from his Austrian colleague. As Ultravox sang in its 1980s’ synth-pop classic “Vienna”: “The feeling is gone/ Only you and I/This means nothing to me”