MTN Leak

Magazine reviews are all very well, but for the real inside track on the capital’s best food and watering holes, one need look no further than the MTN world’s finest critics.

Mario Draghi may have warmed everybody’s hearts with his bond buying proposals last week but Leak reckons the real reason for everyone’s smiles on Monday was the ridiculously hot weather at the weekend, which gave even MTN marketers in London the chance to pretend they live in St Tropez.

We came, we saw, we drove around in giant jeeps. Yes, it’s Discover Iceland 2012, the MTN market’s annual jaunt to the cusp of the Arctic circle courtesy of Íslandsbanki

The Commerzbank team has been celebrating a new arrival this week — and no, we’re not talking about their Singapore desk’s first ever trade.

It may not quite be Vegas, but this year’s Discover Iceland is shaping up to be the best yet — a “beguiling combination” of relaxation, informative seminars and strictly non-sinister fun, according to the Islandsbanki team.

No one likes closing time, least of all MTN bankers, who will normally be found weeping inconsolably at the bar when last orders are called. So no wonder, then, that as the world marvelled at the UK’s ability to pull off the most successful Olympics ever, some in the MTN world felt a touch of melancholy at it all coming to an end.

Despite being on excellent form when lunching with Leak last week, Société Générale’s Yannick Lakoue-Derant and Ben Terreaux are no longer on speaking terms.

The early starts forced by the Olympics have had one fringe benefit for the MTNs community. With the Tube generally empty save for the hardiest of workers, it means chance encounters are always possible.

The Olympics have already annoyed the North Koreans and clogged up London’s roads, but it’s the effect on people’s diaries that has really irked Leak.

When our international spy network brought us news that a group operating under the codename of "The Barclays MTN desk" was planning a raid on the watering holes of Fleet Street on Wednesday night, Leak immediately donned fake moustache and overcoat to go undercover and catch the guilty parties.

The London streets might be grey and rainy but anyone in MTN and CP land who finds the weather a tad depressing should hop over to UBS, where someone is sending temperatures Scorchio!

In our hunt for gossip, we take our obligations seriously, which is why Leak broke into Nomura’s offices last week to join the guys and gals at their rooftop party.