Euroblog

The Olympics Games have well and truly arrived in London, and Blog is confused. Where did all the pessimism go? Where are the reports of riots at tube stations and pile-ups in Olympic lanes? What happened to the savage backlash to the opening ceremony? Why is everyone so bloody excited about everything?

In London last week you could have been forgiven for wondering what season it was. Grey skies and drizzle dominated, alongside a difficult temperature that may not have been cold, but certainly wasn’t warm.

It’s not often that Nicky Darrant will admit to being at anyone’s beck and call, but his newly arrived son, Nathan has had him on tenterhooks for the last fortnight.

RBC has been showing off its fancy new roof terrace on Upper Thames Street in London. While the weather did not really play its part for Euroblog’s visit — and nor did the security detail which meant we were waiting in the lobby for 20 minutes — we are pleased to report that the terrace is probably very lovely on a sunny day.

Hitting the ripe old age of 150 calls for a certain celebration, and when UBS recently hit the milestone, it took the opportunity to reward its staff with a clever piece of Swiss engineering. Sadly, not another funky contingent capital instrument for all to admire, but Swiss engineering of the more traditional kind. That’s right. With Swatches.

Germany v Holland, or Covered v ABS?

What’s blue, white and red all over?

A bit of movement on the syndicate front is always great news — and isn’t it amazing that these hires often take place in June so that movers can enjoy three months of summer?

A Roman-tic New Year’s

Euroblog was delighted to catch up with so many in the market at EuroWeek's bond awards dinner this week. It’s always informative to observe such a group interacting en masse, but this year (and we’re not sure if the different venue was to blame) we couldn’t help wondering if it was a full moon. Bankers across the SSA sector were observed to be behaving rather oddly — or rather their clothes were.

Euroblog’s readers will need no reminding that these are testing times for the investment banking industry. If regulators aren’t making profit generation more difficult, then economic conditions and, er, Whales are doing a pretty good job of it.

With most of Europe — come to mention it, most the world — opting for couch versus desk last Tuesday, the week was ideally set up for relaxed lunches. Working so close to Adam Smith’s birthplace rather precludes London-based bankers taking a day off to celebrate a day for the workers.