"The clock is ticking the wrong way."--Thor Lien, managing director of Enron Nordic Energy in Oslo, commenting on the amount of time the company has to find a buyer (DW, 12/3).
"We've gone to the trouble of writing a letter to them and they've thumbed their nose at us."--Pat McCarty, general counsel for the Managed Funds Association, commenting on the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's lack of response to the MFA's letters concerning amendments to the 1992 ISDA master agreements (DW, 9/24).
"Super-partial-rinky-dinky-treble-knock-out options are not always the best way forward."--Karim Wilkins, foreign exchange strategist at BNP Paribas in London, explaining why he chose to recommend a plain-vanilla strategy, rather than exotic options, to take advantage of a possible yen rally (DW, 8/27).
"Any individuals...whose resume you have submitted to CSFB, whom you might be approaching on behalf of CSFB or who is currently interviewing at CSFB must be withdrawn immediately."--Nael Islam, v.p. human resources at Credit Suisse First Boston in Singapore, in a letter sent to recruiters outlining the firm's hiring moratorium with Morgan Stanley (DW, 7/23).
"No one knew they wanted a Flake in their ice-cream until someone brought out the 99."--Michael Daymond-King, director of electronic trading at Garban Intercapital, drawing a parallel between a British confectioner marketing an ice-cream cone with an embedded chocolate bar and Garban's decision to throw its weight behind an electronic swaps trading platform (DW, 7/9).
"It was a killer."--Hermann Watzinger, managing director and co-head of securitization and portfolio credit derivatives at Merrill Lynch in London, describing his reaction to the so-called w-factor provision in the Basel Capital Adequacy Accord (DW, 6/4).
"The best way to learn is to get your hands dirty."--Michael Cash, v.p. at RenaissanceRe in Hamilton, Bermuda, commenting on the reinsurance company's plans to enter the weather derivatives fray (DW, 5/14).
