MTN Leak

Always keen for a culinary lesson, Leak was lucky to have lunch this week with two chefs representing the famous cooking regions of France and South Dakota.

With Italians making up the City’s second largest foreign MTN legion after the French, it’s fitting that following last week’s matchup between the Three Lions and Les Blues, this Sunday will see England’s finest (and John Terry) take on Gli Azzurri.

Forget the football — the only euros worth talking about are the debut deals from Kogas and QNB Finance.

It’s rare that this column can break news of genuinely international geopolitical import — genuine import of any type, some might quibble. But this week, we’re sure that even the most exacting reader will raise an eyebrow.

With the world once again facing catastrophe, Leak is pleased to report MTN dealers are straining their sinews to rescue us all.

With summer finally coming to the UK, many of the MTN gang are looking at a staycation for the upcoming Jubilee weekend.

Leak regular James Tayler of RBS is a rising star in MTNs but he’s making a name in showbiz too, after rubbing shoulders with the glitterati.

The Queen may have addressed the rabble in Westminster this week but Leak had a royal encounter of our own. Paul Jones the VII of Lloyds — at least that’s what his email address says — and colleague Gaby Carden joined us for lunch at Manicomio.

Hearty congratulations to Deutsche Bank’s Conrad Baker, who proposed to, and was accepted by, his girlfriend while on holiday in Barcelona. Leak is happy to report that Conrad has also listened to the UK’s prime minister about the importance of austerity ’n’ that.

Anyone who’s had cause to call RBS’s James Tayler knows what a well-spoken, polite young man he is — but this week James showed his fire-breathing side, as he instilled some RBS MTN values into some whippersnappers even younger than himself.

Vincenzo Botta of UBS has returned from Brazil and is trying to beat Paul Jones’s long standing UBS record in the "losing of suntan" stakes (or should that be flakes).

Seasoned travellers know that Moroccan market stallholders are possibly the finest hagglers on the planet, able to squeeze the last penny out of even the toughest negotiator. But they met their match last week when Citi’s George Nijborg came to town.