Passenger One: "Well, it’s been an amazing journey. We set out to do something different and we’ve learnt a lot."
Passenger Two: "Yeah, well the thing I’ve learnt is if you take a position, don’t always stick to it expecting that it will come right in the end."
Conversation overheard on the London Underground on December 17, between two passengers who got on at Green Park – the local station for hedge fund managers
"History has proven that the worst-case scenario was not the worst case."
Colm Kelleher, CFO of Morgan Stanley, after the US investment bank wrote down a further $9 billion from sub-prime related losses – just a few months after writing down $3.7 billion.
"The board members choosing our new chairman and CEO are just like the people at the English Football Association choosing a new manager. Our lot know almost nothing about banking, the other lot have never played football."
One Citi employee criticises the committee drawn up to select the dream team to take the bank into a new era
"After two hours with me this afternoon he won’t have any doubts"
One senior Merrill exec is confident that he can convince his new CEO, John Thain, of the validity of his business strategy