"I got an email from a superior asking if I thought it was a good deal. I gave a two-letter answer. Suffice to say the industry is stunned"
A sector expert’s view of the controversial deal between Indonesia’s Bakrie brothers and financier Nat Rothschild to join two coal assets together under the Bumi name
"That’s not going in Front End. Don’t put it in Off the record either! [To colleague] They have this section at the front of the magazine where comments just like that one go"
A corp comms official in Asia instructs a spectacularly sweary colleague at a dinner on the perils of his words
"The client looked at me with genuine shock and said: ‘You’re telling me there’s a less than 10% return and I still have to take risk?’"
A wealth manager in China points out the challenge of explaining his industry’s merits to the country’s new breed of millionaires
"You can always count on the banks writing something stupid in an email. They always think that they have a great sense of humour until it starts costing them money"
A lawyer has a failsafe strategy in approaching structured credit lawsuits
"Just about everyone in the market has received a snotty letter from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank"
A structured credit lawyer dismisses the actions of serial litigator ADCB
"I would say no. Many of the people who used to buy these bonds aren’t buying them any more. The market is dislocated. And that’s why the ECB is supporting it, as a buyer of last resort"
Euromoney asks if the European government bond market is working efficiently