•/Hessen hipster heaven There the corporate plinth stands, quietly tucked away in a corner of the IMF’s main lobby, like a teenager embarrassed by their complexion. On a blandly branded banner, the German land of Hessen urges investors to put their faith and capital to work in Frankfurt. Yes, it may be the world’s most boring city. But it’s also, the good burghers of Germany’s financial capital insist publicly, “a place for bankers, hipsters and for you”. Geil!
•/Cool on Cairo The IMF’s engaging head of the Middle East and Central Asia, Masood Ahmed, stared around the media room and sized up his audience of harried hacks. “I’m sure there are plenty of questions about Egypt,” he announced with a benign certainty. There was — one. “That’s it?” he added, sounding genuinely offended. “I thought there would be more.” Never was the presence of Abdel Fattah Saeed Huseein Khalil el-Sisi required more.
•/Trumpian titters Few people react impassively to any mention of Trump — even, it seems, global leaders and lawmakers, who are often compelled to mask their feelings. Yet The Donald is different. Summoning his name in interviews, one finance minister tittered, a central bank chief snorted, and an eminent economist from New England collapsed briefly in what seemed like a mild cardiac event. Heaven help these souls if he makes it to the Oval Office.
•/Rambling man Delegates at the IIF conference were treated to an epic ramble by CEO Tim Adams, culminating in the revelation that his fave piece of music was ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’, Aaron Copland’s uplifting tribute to the human soul. Fanfare has a quirky history, having been used as an audience-warmer by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones — and also by Glenn Beck, during the arch-conservative US talk-show host’s 2010 ‘Restoring Honour’ rallies.
•/Palm presser On the same panel, Gary Cohn, COO and president of Goldman Sachs, was asked about the future of financial stability. Flummoxed for a moment, the normally straight-talking banker finally turned to Mary Eddoes, head of JP Morgan Asset Management for a little help. “Mary, hold my hand,” he begged, generating laughter from the audience.
•/Trumpian slip Jamie Dimon was also on top, freewheeling form, the chairman of JP Morgan claiming that he was preparing to write a book about the world’s chronic low-growth malaise, and adding, apropos of nothing in particular, that he wanted to be president, but could never run for high office “because we torture those people”. Dimon, back to fine form after being diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, added that his campaign slogan would be: “Make America Fun Again”.
•/Hotting up IMF chief Christine Lagarde is beginning to feel the heat after publicly voicing her desire to see Europe’s lumpen lenders clean up their collective act. German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble ticked her off at a press conference yesterday, noting darkly that Europe had perfectly adequate rules in place, and “did not need multilateral financial institutions” telling it how to run its affairs. Game on!