Loan Ranger

Q: How do you know things are still so quiet in the loan market that you’re being driven to despair?

Loan Ranger is recovering from a terrible case of indigestion this Thursday. In the absence of any real deal activity the temptations of Bacchus descended upon the ranch and Loan Ranger, Tonto and Silver have spent the week in a whirl of hedonistic, erm, lunches.

Dear Loan Marketeers,

It’s August. Which pretty much sums up everything you need to know about the loan market this week.

Summer has finally truly arrived. Although the Nordeas and Handelsbankens of this world have already been out of the office for about a month, this week the rest of Europe goes on holiday.

It’s been another intensely sporty week for some loan marketeers — and another remarkably sociable one for Loan Ranger.

It’s been a devilishly tiring week for the ranch members with all this socialising to cope with. But Loan Ranger can’t complain. Some of the more valiant loan marketeers out there have been doing double-time, and combining heroic sporting efforts with diligent networking with the media.

Loan Ranger does not like to feel left out of things. And particularly when ‘things’ turn out to be parties. Because it transpires that while everyone at the ranch has tirelessly been scouring the loan market in search of suitable shindigs to tell the marketeers about, the marketeers have been getting on just fine without us, and organising private festivities.

Can’t wait for the summer holidays? Do you find yourself dreaming of turquoise seas and sandy beaches? Of boat trips to stunning islands off the Adriatic coast? This will all become a reality next week for some lucky loans bankers — and luckier still, it even counts as work.

How do you prove to the world that you’re completely immune from the global credit crunch?

It’s been another good week for London’s banking community, which is steadily falling down the list of most unpopular group of people in the country. First politicians and members of parliament knocked financiers off the top spot, and now it’s anyone involved in the Underground.

There are strange things afoot in the world of finance. No, we don’t mean leveraged loan launches and the wider corporate bond frenzy.