What a difference a few weeks can make. At the beginning of July Deutsche Bank was an odds-on favourite to knock Merrill Lynch off its new-issue pedestal where it has reigned supreme for six consecutive years. But in the middle of the month TJ Lim arrived at Merrill from his enforced 'gardening leave' and life in the Merrill Lynch debt capital markets' group has never quite been the same. Not only is Merrill back on top of the new-issue league tables but Deutsche is suddenly looking as if its feet are stuck in quicksand.

TJ Lim versus Edson Mitchell? It sounds like an uneven contest. In boxing terms TJ is like Terry Spinks to Mitchell's Sugar Ray Leonard. But no one doubts that TJ possesses exceptional ringcraft skills and when he returned to Merrill from Dresdner Kleinwort he left me in no doubt that his one main competitor target was Deutsche Bank.