Free to Trade by Michael Ridpath

spoke to three more salesmen, but none was bidding more than 971/2 . I was close to giving up when Karen shouted, 'Debbie, Leipziger Bank on four!'
    'Who the hell are Leipziger Bank?' said Debbie. 'Tell them to go away, we're busy.'
    Leipziger Bank? Now why would an obscure German bank want to talk to us, I wondered. 'I'll talk to them, Karen,' I shouted.
    'Good-morning. This is Gunter here. How is it with you? It is a fine day here.'
    'Good-morning,' I said. Come on, Gunter, get to the point.
    After a little more polite conversation Gunter asked me if I had heard of an issue for the Gypsum Company of America.
    'As a matter of fact, I happen to own two and a half million dollars of that issue.'
    'Ah good. My trader is bidding 95. This is a very good bid, I believe.'
    An appalling bid -- at least two points below the market! 'Listen very closely, Gunter,' I said. 'My colleague is on the other line and is just about to sell these bonds to an old friend of ours at 99 . If you bid 991/2right now, then I will sell them to you. Otherwise you will never see these bonds again.'
    'Can I have an hour to work on that?' asked Gunter, shaken.
    'You can have fifteen seconds to work on it.'
    Silence. I looked at my watch. After thirteen seconds, Gunter was back on the line. 'OK, OK we will buy two and a half million Gypsum of America 9 per cents of 1995 at 991/2 .''
    'Done,' I said.
    'Thank you,' said Gunter. 'I look forward to doing a lot more business with you in the future.'
    Fat chance, I thought, as I put down the phone.
    'How on earth did you get him to pay 991/2? asked Debbie.
    'The only reason I could think that an outfit like Leipziger Bank should be buying these bonds is if they are DGB's local bank. If DGB are desperate to buy the Gypsum bonds, then they can afford to pay up for them. Can you believe that guy only bid 95 when he was prepared to pay 991/2? Remind me not to deal with them again.'
    'So how much are we up?' asked Debbie.
    'We bought those two million at 82 and sold them for a 17i point profit,' I said. 'That's three hundred and fifty thousand dollars we've made! Not bad. And we got rid of our original half-million position. I wonder where our shares will be when New York comes in?'
    Debbie looked thoughtful.
    'What's up?' I said.
    'Someone must have known about the takeover,' she said.
    'Of course they did,' I said. 'They always do. That's the way the world works.'
    'Maybe we shouldn't have bought those shares,' she said.
    'Why shouldn't we? We had no knowledge there was going to be a takeover. We just guessed. We haven't broken any rules.'
    'Somebody knew. Why else would the stock shoot up?'
    'Look,' I said, 'You are the compliance officer. You know the rules. Have we broken any of them?'
    Debbie thought a little. 'Technically, I suppose not,' she said.
    'Good. Now pass me some tickets so I can log this trade.'

    The next day, Wednesday, was an infuriating one. I was supposed to produce a report for one of our clients, and I was having severe trouble reconciling the performance figures produced by administration with what I knew we had achieved. I spent two hours in the afternoon staring at the same columns of numbers before I spotted the mistake, which had been staring back at me the whole time. Cursing myself for my stupidity, I went through to administration to point out the error. There was still many hours' work involved to straighten it out, and what with constant interruptions from salesmen, I would be lucky to get out before midnight. Debbie offered to help me, and I accepted with relief. Even so, it was not until eight o'clock that we finished. I put the report on Karen's desk, ready to be sent out first thing the next morning. Debbie and I looked at each other. 'Drink?' she said.
    'Somehow I thought you would suggest that,' I said. 'Where shall we go?'
    'Have you ever been on that boat on the Thames? You know, the one by Temple tube station?'
    'That's fine with me,' I said. 'Just let me get my