Keeping the powder dry

Dan Davies is a managing director at Frontline Analysts, the author of Lying for Money, and co-author of The Brompton. Investment bankers tend to be natural optimists for a simple reason; contrarianism and cynicism don’t get deals done. That can be pretty tough at some points in the cycle, like when the bonus pool is down 40 per cent and the redundancies have started. That’s why, after nine months of deal drought, the phrase “dry powder” has been making frequent appearances in interviews, to support hopes that things will get better in the second half of the year. It’s not quite clear what image the metaphor is meant to create — presumably the reference is to gunpowder rather than any other kind of powder that might induce brief sensations of optimism in investment bankers. Perhaps the idea is that banking clients are like a crew of pirates, sailing round the Spanish Main and continuing to plunder booty until their cannons run out? In any case, the “dry powder” thesis is all about priv

Dan Davies is a managing director at Frontline Analysts, the author of Lying for Money, and co-author of The Brompton. Investment bankers tend to be natural optimists for a simple reason; contrarianism and cynicism don’t get deals done. That can be pretty tough at some points in the cycle, like when the bonus pool is down 40 per cent and the redundancies have started. That’s why, after nine months of deal drought, the phrase “dry powder” has been making frequent appearances in interviews, to support hopes that things will get better in the second half of the year. It’s not quite clear what ima