From Robert Elliott, global head of banking at Linklaters. I wonder if he's read Crash?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4417805.ece
Nobody can afford to be complacent right now. I’ve just re-read JG Ballard’s Empire of the Sun, and while I realise it may be going a bit far to compare the credit crunch to World War Two, the book’s message of not taking anything for granted is sound advice for anyone working in the City at the moment. Now is the time to keep a particularly close eye on clients’ objectives and align yourself accordingly an approach that has been key to my enduring relationship with RBS, for whom I’ve just finished acting on its £12 billion rights issue.
As a restructuring specialist, a part of me has always associated downturns with drama and excitement. Some of the stuff that goes on is absolutely riveting. The dramatic collapse of the Maxwell empire stands out, as does the fall of Barings. I’ll never forget the Saturday evening spent rifling through boxes in their offices in Bishopsgate in the hours before the story was leaked to the press. For sheer full on adrenalin, it would be hard to top the search for the missing Parmalat billions. All were experiences where, momentarily at least, you felt like you were at the heart of the action.
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