Wall Street -- New Era, Same King

We were once desperate to be them --- commercial banks longing for investment bank status. Deals and fees. All the flash.

Reams will be written about the day two Wall Street giants fell. Hollywood is probably already negotiating options.

Will they remember the mid-1980's, when New York corporate bankers retooled to compete head-on with Wall Street?

How we argued with long-standing corporate clients that we were up to the task, investment banking was sexy but credit analysis was still king, we were good at it, and, no, it wouldn’t slow down their deal.