MTN Leak

One of the MTN market's best-known faces appears to have been practising for the looming nuclear apocalypse.

Leak is facing the summer paradox. The otherwise hardworking MTN bankers of London have more free time to come and hobnob with Leak but instead choose to go on holiday.

The summer holidays have arrived and jubilation abounds among school children. For the parents in the MTN market, there is perhaps a little trepidation mixed with the glee.

Société Générale invited the great and the good of London’s financial press to a viewing of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new Pink Floyd exhibition this week. But for the hapless Leak team, it was The Doors that were of interest.

All across the City and the Wharf, eyes are roving from left to right, right to left, trained on a single monitor. These eyes are not comparing curves, nor checking swap prices. If you sneak around them quickly enough, before the reflexive twitch to Alt+Tab brings up a spreadsheet, you might catch a glimpse of green and white.

From the cobbled streets by a Mayfair tavern, to a breezy rooftop at one of London’s most prestigious hotels — there was plenty of schmoozing and boozing to be had this week.

Leak went from dining with Santander's “Latin Kings” last week to trying the new branch of Peruvian restaurant Coya in the City with some of the peeps from TD Securities.

Leak had the pleasure of dining with Santander in one of London’s most authentic Spanish restaurants — a fitting setting for some stories from the self-styled “Latin Kings” of MTNs.

As the MTN world's social calendar begins to fill up once again, one event in particular stood out from the rest — this year’s Discover Iceland.

GlobalCapital celebrated its 30th Anniversary Bond Awards dinner on Tuesday night at the UnderGlobe — a venue beneath Shakespeare’s Globe theatre on the River Thames.

Like a jungle cat in the Amazon jumping from tree to tree to find the highest perch to consume its prey undisturbed, an MTN cuisine connoisseur has trailed the concrete jungle to find the tallest towers to dine among the clouds.

MTNers were jet-setting around the world on business this week but some still had time for pleasure, leaving others feeling the frustration of being left behind.

This bank holiday weekend was filled with adventures for some MTNers. One Russia-based banker gloated about his enjoyable break and taunted Leak with tales of yet another long weekend ahead.

Two senior MTNers let their hair down to celebrate two separate soirées last weekend. One German banker surprised his spouse with gifts for her birthday, while a director of MTNs celebrated a birthday, of sorts — the birth of a new nationality.

We’re always on the lookout for new buzzwords and catchphrases here at Leak — and we’re happy to announce that our weekly news-hounding has brought a new one: Canadian barbeque.

This week, Leak has been hunting scoops with all the diligence of kids on an Easter egg hunt, looking for the details of the various exotic getaways MTNers are planning this weekend.

Leak had the pleasure of dining with one MTN team and their PR aficionado at the historic Simpson’s Tavern pub last Friday.

Leak this week obtained highly classified information that Peter Flanagan of RBC Capital Markets is off to explore the wonders of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto for a fortnight.

We’re not sure whether things are too quiet in the market at the moment, but Morgan Stanley bankers are dabbling in a spot of moonlighting — as art experts, no less.

Congratulations are in order to the valorous, selfless, sweaty efforts of some of the City’s syndicate bankers for the Spread a Smile charity last week.

From the second floor of an Art Deco building with a view of the City skyline, to a steampunk themed underground warehouse in East London— it most certainly has been a busy week of mingling for Leak.

Leak’s social calendar has always been a colourful place, with plenty of unusual entries. This week, however, brought an invitation that sets a new standard for bizarre business trips.

Leak is in an uncharacteristically relaxed mood this week, after a mix up on the phone left us enjoying UniCredit’s rather tasteful hold music.

You may have thought the haze was merely London’s toxic smog but, in fact, it was love in the air this week.