One senior civil servant – sorry, I mean senior banker – called me a few days ago to tell me that he had been informed by one of his rivals that this year’s would be the last FX poll ever. He almost believed it.
Meanwhile, I hear RBS’s quant solutions team came blasting off the blocks with an early email to its clients on Wednesday. “As a recipient of FX trading signals and research from the RBS quant solutions team, we’d like to draw your attention to a new voting category in the 2009 Euromoney FX poll,” it said.
“For some years we have been lobbying for the inclusion of a separate quant category, as it was recognised that our unique blend of cutting-edge quant modelling, research and pure alpha-generating trading signals was perhaps not being adequately covered by the existing research or strategy categories of the annual Euromoney poll. This year, our wish has been granted and there is a separate ‘quantitative analysis’ category, so we would be really grateful for your recognition of our work by voting for us in the poll,” it added. I wonder if it has managed to model its chances of success?
A few votes were cast on the site – but before it had gone live. Bad news boys, they won’t count. On a serious note, I would like to thank the banks and their clients for the efforts they put in to making the Euromoney poll the most authoritative analysis there is. But if any of you see shenanigans, please contact me with the details. I have no problem naming and shaming.
