Serious business

摘要

You cannot be serious! That famous exclamation by the then "super-brat" John McEnroe has become part of the English language. And I can't help but share that view when watching how some of the rather other-worldly regulations that have been raining down on us since 2008 are being interpreted by compliance and legal departments. That was precisely my reaction when, over a coffee, a senior sales operative from one of the better cut of investment banks told me, with some incredulity, of an unnamed but I think Europe-based institution that had wished to sell corporate bonds - suspect they might have mainly been financials - and which had sent a BWIC (Bids Wanted In Competition) to no less than 35 counterparties.