Viva Las Vegas!
Attendees were happy to be back in Vegas this year, as the American Securitization Forum 2012 conference returned to its traditional home base. Last year’s show saw conference-goers sharing space with the Avatar Wizards Conference (remember them?) in drizzly Orlando, Fla. This year the industry gathered in the swanky Aria conference center in Vegas’ new City Center development. The atmosphere of the ARIA’s lobby casino spread fast, with some games of chance going on inside the conference center. Morningstar Ratings had a wheel-of-fortune game complete with casino-style lights, and Standard & Poor's had a game where landing on “RMBS” or “CLO” meant scoring an iTunes gift card. But the S&P game had only winners, no losers – if only the rest of Vegas worked that way.
Misplaced Metaphor?
Conference-goers in the Exhibit Hall might have been surprised and impressed to see an elaborate house of cards being built next to Potter Anderson Corroon’s booth. The firm had hired a Harvard-trained architect who specializes in creating elaborate card constructions to whip up a five-foot tall tower. Hopefully no one paid too much attention to all that rhetoric around the causes of the financial crisis… or that book, “House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess On Wall Street” that came out from William Cohan a couple years back.
Do Work Or Bet On Football??
One rating agency official told SI he was facing a tough choice Sunday morning. The ASF was screening championship football in the Exhibit Hall, and even providing beer, but were they taking action? “I’m trying to figure out how much work I have to do today, I might be able to get away and watch the game in the Sports Book,” he said, hoping to be able to place a few bets.
What's That You're Wearing?
Société Générale had a continental approach to swag this year. The French bank had a selection of branded toiletries to give away at their booth in the exhibition hall. Attendees wishing to pamper themselves could sample some “Blue Mist” scented body lotion from SocGen.