Paul Myners' address at Institutional Investor's European equity research awards' dinner was a neat second act to New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer's attack on US equity research analysts at the magazine's awards dinner in New York in November.
The former chairman of Gartmore and government-commissioned author of a review on institutional investment in the UK relished the opportunity to unleash his own attack on the industry face to face.
He didn't pull any punches as he laid into a suddenly sullen audience of sell-side analysts. "At the peak of excess at the end of the last bull market sell-side research became a tool of corporate PR and executive ego - when investment banks saw conflicts become synergies," berated Myners.
He even criticized the idea of presenting awards. "At the root of the problem is the practice of judging the sell side in relative terms - individuals, teams and firms are ranked and tiered. Some gold, some silver, some bronze. Commission for research is allocated accordingly. There is a fixation with relative proportioning - mirrored by awards such as those tonight."