MTN Leak

The days are getting colder and the nights are drawing in. Usually at this time of year with the long winter ahead, the only sparkle of joy is that the MTN and CP-ers can start looking forward to the Christmas festivities.

At lunch with Barclays CP head Sheldon Mair this week, Leak was regaled with stories of times at BarCap spanning the last 10 years: of CP comrades loved and lost and the despair he feels now being so far away from Ollie Johnson in the BarCap block. "Ah isn’t that sweet, a true friendship in the murky waters of banking," thought Leak.

Recessions often bring about the tides of change, but these last few weeks have seen the tossed and turned MTN-ers finally landing on unknown shores.

There’s a guard dog at Calyon. The guard dog speaks with a strong French accent (which of course doesn’t really narrow it down) and barks with all the ferocity of a three-headed poodle.

What’s small, zips in and out of traffic probably quite clumsily and at midnight will race through London at a top speed of 15mph? Henry Coyle on a scooter. (And Ben Lamberg from Calyon, obviously.)

Poor Hayley Basterfield from RBS. With Gayle off on maternity leave, Leak gathers she’s been working harder than ever over the last few months, so a well deserved autumn trip to New York with her friends seemed more than deserved.

MuniFin this week took a few of its MTN dealers to Finland, to celebrate its glorious successes in private placements this year. Toby Croasdell from BarCap and Andrew Nicola from Commerzbank were in attendance for the event which included reindeer eating, rally car driving, shooting, quad biking, sauna steaming and "jumping into holes in the ground with water in".

Amaury Gossé is off to march down the aisle again this week, this time in Paris. Leak thought, goodness that was quick, didn’t he get married a mere few months ago? Brides aren’t like puttable FRNs you know Amaury — you don’t get the option to sell them back every quarter and decide whether to reinvest.

David Morland from UBS is fast becoming a rising star in the world of MTNs, but he has never been quicker or better at raising the barriers than over the bank holiday weekend on a break to Belgium and France.

New MTN head honcho Marc Falconer, European co-head for all asset classes and corporate maestro Fred Zorzi, and Chris "Call me Daddy" Hill, were all handling the ridiculous temperatures better than Leak as they collected their MTN award this week.

You thought the MTN baby boom was over, didn’t you? So did Leak, but it turns out there’s always further issuance to be discovered, even in quiet summer.

Leak fears that the holidays may be a dire time indeed — particularly if friends stay secretive about their plans.